The Storms of War

by IpreferpI

Rating: teen
Tags: Dark, Adventure, Anthro
Length: 37315

War takes its toll on everyone. What will it cost Steel Wing?

After the outbreak of hostilities, Equestria must support its allies in the fight against Gryphany and Neighpan. Caught in the middle of it is young Corporal Steel Wing, a conscriptee. Can he survive it? And if so, what will it cost him?

Art generously given by a friend!
(Left to Right: Sergeant Bubble Popper, Major Maple Leaf, Corporal Steel Wing, Corporal Orange Blaze,Lieutenant Butter Bar)

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-16 16:15:26 UTC

Character List

The mares and stallions of the 2nd company, under the command of Major Maple Leaf, are some of the most distinguished in the First Infantry that fought in the Great War.

Major Maple Leaf: Eldest daughter of General Oak Leaf. She opted to go into millitary service, serving proudly in the Equestrian Reserves until the Great War broke out, where she and other officers supervised the training of troops they intended to take into combat, as well as lead other junior officers into battle to give them experience. As the commanding officer of the Second Company, she is in charge of providing leadership to the green mares and stallions under her command. Despite the protests of her commanding officers, she leads from the front, risking enemy fire to inspire her troops in the middle of battle. Some of her non commissioned officers are not to fond of the probability of losing her either.

Lieutenant Butter Bar: A young, hopeful officer fresh out of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, he graduated Northpoint top in his class and is proving false the stereotype that ROTC officers are both worthless and plotholes. Kind to his men, he does his best to keep them in line while shielding them from nastier officers. He is the direct commander of Ninth Squad, despite being rated to command the entirety of the Seventeenth Platoon. He is a bitter rival to First Lieutenant Winter Breeze, although they keep it out of sight of the lower downs.

Staff Sergeant Bubble Popper: A gruff and seasoned combat professional. Earned his name and Destiny Mark as a foal, where he enjoyed jumping on bubble wrap. Hailing from parts unknown to the rest of the squad, he had only just gotten out of Icelock when it was attacked by Neighponeese and Gryphon forces. Smokes far too much for a stallion his age.

Corporal Orange Blaze: Best friend of the protagonist, Corporal Steel Wing. She loves fire and other such things, and was glad to carry a flamethrower on Omareha beach. Though she has since reverted to the normal weaponry, she is the second largest member of the team and as an earth pony can lay a gryphon out onto the ground in one punch (With brass knuckles)

Corporal Steel Wing: A sniper, he earned his Destiny Mark in Basic Training, showing a proficiency in weaponry, specificly sniping. Is a bit shy sometimes, but other times can be the life of the party depending on interest and intoxication.

Private Shadow Step: An explosives expert with a manic personality, she is a Lunar Pegasus (Bat pony), who enjoys making her enemies (And allies) squirm from her fanged smiles. Dont let those teeth fool you, she only eats fruits and vegetables, but has been known to tear a throat out in desperation. She employs a bazooka in combat, but possesses a Thompson sub-machinegun for wet work.

Private Iron Hoof: In a word, Huge. A former copper and iron miner, he has a Masters of Science in engineering through an accelerated course, but ultimatly entered as an enlistedman. He is very strong, and can easily lift and throw two hundred pounds, or snap a neck with a punch. A gentle giant in most cases, he is very fiery when riled up, and is best friends with Shadow Step.

WARNING: BEYOND HERE ARE SPOILERS!

Warrant Officer Wire Tap: An Equestrian Office of Intelligence Black Cloak, he had little in the way of combat skills but pledged his life to Major Maple Leaf after she saved his. Although much of his life remains shrouded in mystery, it is known that he is dear to Leaf's heart. KIA in Normaredy.

Private Radio Wave: A young and hopeful technical expert, he is a good radio operator who can cut through the crap in the broadcasts, bringing crystal clear reception to any front. Always working on fine tuning army property, he is never found without his engineering kit. Sadly, Killed in Action during the Normaredy invasions. His death deeply affected Steel Wing.

Chapter 1

Morning. That most dreadful time of day, the part where your alarm or mother tells you that you need to begin it. That time where you leave behind your dreams, the ones where you have your Destiny Mark, telling you what you are going to be good at. I leaned back in bed, groaning. I was still enjoying my flying ability, after that mad demon Tirek had taken it away. Once again, we had Princess Sparkle to thank for the world not devolving into utter chaos.

I got up, stretching, and padded across the clouds to the bathroom, where I looked into the mirror. Smiling back at me was a young, hopeful face, fresh out of Flight School. I had gotten top marks in all of my classes (Except history, but then again, who cares about what people did a thousand years ago right?) and yet...

That face turned into a frown as I sighed. Fifteen scholarship applications, including the Rich Yards Ones and Fives Application (For those entering college and those trying to get past a four year degree) had all been denied. Every bucking one. Stretching, I rolled an ache out of my left wing and fluttered them, smiling. I LOVED flying, it was nearly the best thing I could imagine. Taking out my toothbrush, I started scrubbing away as I flipped on the Radio in my room. TV was great and all, but unless we could get better reception up in Cloudsdale, I wouldn’t bother with one of them.

“In other news, last nights trade negotiations went souer after the Neighpan Delegation stormed out of the Confrence room. They vowed that they would ally themselves with the usurped government that has now taken supreme control of Gryphany.

Warlord Bristlebeak has deposed Supreme Chancellor Ironclaw and declared martial law throughout the Gryphon Peninsula. His armies continue to advance nearly unopposed through Neighgeria, Stalliongrad, and the government of Prance has just declared an unconditional surrender, although sources tell us that there is a well organized resistance group operating in that country.

Princess Luna earlier stated, quote, “We would like to ensure Equestrian Interests in that country, but at this time, the war has nothing to do with us. While we are prepared to mount a defense if that becomes nessesary, we will not launch a pre-emptive strike when there is every chance that a peaceful resolution can still be negotiated.”

The Royal Princessess have yet to allow a full interview, but comments from the Capitol of Canterlot tell us that at this time, quiet orders have been placed for the creation of guns, planes, and tanks.

Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor have thus far not encountered any threat from their neighbors to the east, although no one can say if this state will last for long.

This is Worldly News, bringing you news from around the world, signing off.”

I sighed, spitting out my toothpaste. Heading out, I walked to the fridge, past my mother. She simply stared at me as I opened the fridge up, took out a gallon of Orange Juice, and poured some in the cup. Turning around, she grabbed my shoulder and turned me to the sink just as I realized my mistake and spit out the most evil flavor known to ponykind.

“Honestly, Wing, you would think you would have learned that by now! Citrus and Toothpaste do not go well together, now do they?”

I shook my head, grinning sheepishly. “Um, no. What's for breakfast?”

She pushed some cold pizza over at me. “Same as last night, only colder. We are out of bits, remember? I don’t get paid until next week.” At my pained look, she said “Don’t worry though, this time, I think we will have enough to put aside for you to go to college! If you can keep your job at the weather factory, I am sure you'll make it to Canterlot University in no time!”

I smiled at her, and a painful throb resonated through my chest. Ever since my dad had died in the line of duty, she had done her best to keep us afloat, but with just her and me living in Cloudsdale, we had neither enough bits to live, or enough to move someplace cheaper. We were stuck in a downward spiral, and I was only dragging us down faster. I had been sitting on the news for a while, but now seemed like as good of a time to tell her as any.

“So mom... you heard the news about the diplomatic meeting? How Neighpan stormed out, swearing bloody revenge on us?”

She nodded, not looking. “Yeah, it was all over the news this morning. Supposedly they swear to launch an attack on us so horrific, they will... blacken our skies with their bombs? I wont be afraid unless they ACTUALLY join up with Gryphany.”

I turned to the side, packing her a sandwitch for work. “Well... you know the Recruiter was in town last week... and he was offering a 50 bit reward for anyone who registers for Selective Services?”

She nodded. “MmmHmmm... he was a rather dashing fellow, wasn’t he?”

I grimaced. She was hardly paying attention, so now was the best time. “Well... we have Fifty bits waiting for us at the Post Office... I registered and I was deemed fit for service on my preliminary. Actually qualed pretty high... could go Airborn if I wanted. Really, it's not like they are go-” I said, before there was a harsh slap across the back of my head.

“YOU did WHAT? ?!?” she yelled, grabbing me by the shoulders and looking me dead in the eyes. “You know what I think of the military! How can you do that after what your father did? He went off to join the royal guard, thinking it was safe, and what happened? Killed during the changleing invasion! And that was only the Guard!”

I cringed, before seeing the tears in her eyes. “Mom! Listen! I only registered for the military IF THERE IS A DRAFT! Equestria has not had a draft since the Dragon Wars! That was nearly seven hundred years ago! The odds of us drafting are literaly zero!”

That conversation pretty much set the mood for the morning. She took her sandwich and bit me good day, telling me to work hard at the factory and left without another word. I packed myself one and headed out, taking wing and munching on cold pizza for breakfast, heading out towards the Cloud Lines, my place of work. At eleven bits an hour, it was really good wages, and I even got Dental!

“STEEL WING! GOT YOUR MARK YET?” rang across the shop, and I sighed. I had yet to get my mark, no matter how many times I checked my upper arms. No matter what I did, I never found anything that I was very good at, or had a passion for. Still, that didn't stop Rainy Days from coming over and giving me crap every damn morning.

“Come on, you are what... nineteen now? You should have found SOMETHING you are good at! Or are you just-”

“Not good at anything, boss. Yeah, I know, you say that to me every f- er, fine day. Sir.”

He nodded, grinning. “Well, keep your chin up. One of these days you are going to get a mark for working the assembly line. Or making clouds. Of if it takes long enough, you can have one for my job when I retired. I wanted to let you know that next week I put you in for a raise okay?”

Despite his relentless teasing, he was a very good stallion and a great boss. Even though corporate hung over his head. He had given me a job when there were at least three others more qualified and willing to work this line. He and my dad used to know each other, and for that reason I knew I could trust Rainy Days.

“Thank you sir. Hey, if you need, I can pull some extra shifts...”

He shook his head, eyes down. “Sorry mate... you have all the over time I can give you this month, and you did it all in the last two weeks. If I pull any more strings, Corporate is going to fire you and me both, and install some heartless dictator in here.” He pulled himself up, wrapped his wings around his chest to imitate gryphon feathers, and held his hands up around his mouth like a beak. “Mein Subjectz... Eye weezsh to teel youuu dat all poneez are weeeek and helplezz before our Imperial Might! Long live the Zird Reaich!”

I snorted. That had been on the news three months ago, and we were still laughing about it. Strong though Bristlebeaks armies were, he had no navy, and the Crystal Empire stood strong against all threats from the land. Unless Beak and Empress Leersha worked out their differences, he would never have anything in the way of a method to attack Equestria.

“Keep up the good work, I still have to nag the prez of the company to make me the vice. Ever since Dash quit, there has been a sucking power vaccume. Take care!” he said, zipping off.

I shook my head, and got to work making sure the guys on the assembly line didn’t mess up. I was, in title, a Line Supervisor, or a Sub Manager in the company terms. Each cloud had to come out to the right specs, and I was in charge of light wispy cirrus clouds that we put up to ensure that people knew when a storm was coming.

Walking along the line, I saw a dark gray mare was lagging behind the others. “Hey! Cloud Kicker! Keep the line moving!” I said, moving in to make sure she kept up with everyone else. Another typical day.

Fifteen failed clouds and the line getting back on line later, four hours had passed and I was getting a bit tired. Staring at a long clipboard of detailed information relating to the production of various types of clouds, I failed to notice somepony walk up behind me.

“Hey Wing. How's your morning going?”

I started and turned around, grinning. “Azure Skies! How was Icelock? Is the Crystal Empire as cold as they say?”

She smiled back. “Colder. The military base there needed a weather expert to advice them on snow flurries, and I was the strawmare for the job. Just got back! Week long train ride, but worth it. How's you and Blue Cross doing?”

I sighed. “Mom's not doing so well. She pulls double shifts at the clinic, but we still owe a lot of money on our house, and we can't sell it in this economy, not without ending up owing nearly four thousand bits and not having a haybit to move somewhere else on. I signed up for Selective Services for the extra fifty bits, and it might give us food for this week but... I don’t know how much longer till we are on the streets...”

Her face softened. “Look... if you and her need a place to stay... My husband just left me, and my house is empty. I know a few people out in Las Pegasus that would like to move here, they might give a decent deal, and I really wouldn’t mind helping out a couple of flockmates.”

I smiled at her and extended a wing, which she rubbed her against in a sign of affection. I had always liked her a bit, but more as a friend than anything else. “Thanks... if things get worse, I'm afraid I might have to convince mom to do that. I hate all of this... ever since dad got killed, everything just keeps getting worse and worse.”

She nodded, and my stomach growled. “Oops, I gotta get lunch before my break is over! Catch up with you later, Sky!”

She waved at me as I ran for the break room, where I proceeded to scarf my lunch in a manner of minutes, punching my lunch card and heading back out to finish my eight hour shift. Rainy Days was out there, looking a bit sour at Cloud Kicker, and I shrugged at the hopeless rookie. Cloud Kicker was evidence that no matter how bad you thought you were, someone else was even worse at everything than you. The poor kid had NO feel for weather, but with his uncle being best friends with the company president, he had grudgingly been given practical immunity to getting fired. No one wanted to be the one under the burner when Storm Kicker complained to the CEO about his nephew becoming homeless.

Back at the line, I reflected on how strange things were getting. With the advent of all the new technology around the place, including color television and Automobiles, things had changed a lot over the past twenty years. Princess Luna coming back had been a bit of a celebration, but not as much as computers that could fit in only one room, and made the job of filing information in the Factory much easier. Everything was kept in electronic form as of five months ago, although paper records were kept in storage in case there was another bug crawling into the system.

Finally, the bell rang and the lines ground to a halt. Checking the time, another four eventless hours had gone by, and I was free to go and hit the books, studying advanced magical theory to give myself an edge on my Canterlot University entrance exams. No one would expect a Pegasus who could recite all of Starswirl the Beardeds theses titles from memory!

Chuckling to myself, I waved at Azure as she left, and gave Rainy Days a wing slap on the way out. “See ya boss!” I yelled, flapping away. He yelled something about my blank status, and I shook my head, going home.

Stopping outside, I saw that Mother was already home, judging by the sounds of the television inside, but the mail had yet to be collected, indicating she had gotten off early. I grabbed it all, sifting through it and removing one of the bills that I planned to secretly pay while she wasn’t looking, trying to take a load off of her shoulders. As I walked in, though, I didn’t hear her voice yelling at me to close the door, or wipe my feet. Instead, all I heard was the television.

Walking into the living room, still holding all of the envelopes, I saw her staring at the television, mouth open. “Mom?” I asked, looking at her. She simply pointed, mouth still agape.

“BREAKING NEWS! Flight Base Icelock, located in the Crystal Empire, has been totally destroyed in the worst attack on equestrian soil in over seven hudred years! Gryphon forces, attacking from Neighpaneese ships, landed on the souther edge of the Crystal Empire and flew nearly two hundred miles through freezing blizzard  conditions to launch a surprise attack on the Equestrian military base!

At this time, casualties are estimated to be between fifteen thousand and thirty thousand military personell dead, with nearly double wounded. A quarter of those are Cystal Empire soldiers sent there to train with our troops.”

The view changed to a scene of carnage. Pillars of smoke and what seemed to be downed aircraft dotted a snowy landsscape, and the view seemed to be taken from an aireal Pegasus cameraman.

“As you can see, the base has been totally destroyed. Word from Prince Shining Armor is that he is dispatching forces to reclaim this base and bring it up to full operational effectiveness, and that the Crystal Empire has declared a state of war against the Crimson Alliance, as the treaty between Gryphany and Neighpan is being called. At this time, exact numbers are secret for military purposes.”

The view scrolled out one more time, and the vastness of the wreckage became clear.

Citizens of Equestria... We are at war! Princess Celestia will appear in public tonight to make a formal statement, but until then, we are at War!”

My mother looked at me, tears in her eyes. “You missed it earlier... they started the draft. Princess Luna was on... they are starting a draft!”

I stared, now the one gaping. The third letter down in my hand read

To: Mister Steel Wing

From: The Desk of Princess Luna

Mister Steel Wing,

By Executive Order Fifty three, you are hereby notified of your conscription into the Equestrian Royal Army. You are to report to Camp Hooftingon, Coltifornia, to begin Basic Infantry Training in one week. Failure to present yourself to your local military coordinating office in [CLOUDSDALE] will result in you being declared MIA/UA, and will incur a fine and a minimum of twenty years in prison.

Thank you for your services.

And like that, I was a soldier.

Chapter 2: Boot Camp

“My loyal subjects. For five years, we have ignored the threat to the east, and four days ago, we paid the price most dear. At two in the morning, Neighpan and Gryphany jointly launched the most vicious attack on foreign soil in over seventy years, landing nearly five thousand shock troopers in less than twenty minutes. Over forty thousand civilians and soldiers died valiently defending their homes and their comrades, and our largest northern base was completely destroyed.

For five years, we have let hubris and foolish optimism rule our hearts, and refused to send support overseas for a war that we all thought was not ours. Prance has petitioned us for aid, and today, I announce that by my decree, and the suggestion of my sister Luna, I have agreed to land troops overseas to begin operations against Gryphany.

The Crimson Alliance, as the two countries and their allies call themselves, is the greatest threat to Equestrian, nay, World peace that the entire world has ever known since the days of Discord. They represent a return to the days of Dictators and Tyrants like King Sombra. And like those tyrants, they shall fall.

If anyone would say anything about me, let it be this: A blow upon my subjects is a blow upon myself. And to strike myself or my sister is a crime punishable by death.

Therefor, it is with a heavy heart that I beg of you all to give your time and energy to support the army that my sister Luna is raising. We did not ask for war, but now that it has come looking for us, we shall answer. My top generals are devising plans of battle, and we are dispatching our current standing army overseas to assist Zebracia in their operaions against the Crimson Alliance. There, they shall receive much needed combat experience, and that experience shall go into training more soldiers.

I, Princess Celestia of the House of Sun and Moon, Ruler of Equestria, Royal Sovereign of the Fair Lands, and bringer of Light, do hereby declare war upon the Gryphon Empire, its pretender to the throne Bristlebeak, and Imperial Neighpan, their ally. For their blow against us, we shall visit upon them such destruction as has not been seen since before the Unification Wars.

Go, my little ponies, and prepare for the iron beat of war.”

I sat, staring at the seat in front of me. Though I was still in my civilian cloths, the stern faced stallion next to me was not. Towering over everyone else in here, the earth pony wore Royal Army fatigues and had the rank of... Sergeant? First Sergeant? on his shoulder. I couldn’t remember which, and I looked away before I could get yelled at. All around me on the train, others sat, some of them staring ahead like me, others looking around nervously. On this car alone, there was nearly a hundred of us packed in like sardines, and this train had nearly fifty cars bound for Camp Hoofington, Coltifornia.

In the seat next to me was a scrawny unicorn who kept rubbing his horn, staring out the window. On his forearm was a green wavy line like a radio wave, and his large cider-bottle glasses spoke of poor eyesight. He looked at me and gave a slight grin before leaning over and whispering “My name is Radio Wave... what's yours?”

I looked up at the grim faced sergeant, who was looking up the line at another person, and then whispered “Steel Wing. I'm from cloud-”

I nearly shat myself as, right in my ear, the sergeant yelled “DID I GIVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEAK MAGGOT!?”

Everyone around me jumped, and I turned beet red as I looked at him. A sharp smack across the face met with my meeting his eyes, and he screamed “DONT LOOK ME IN THE EYE I DONT LIKE THAT! MAKES ME THINK YOU ARE GONNA HIT ME! ARE YOU GOING TO HIT ME MAGGOT?!?”

I shook my head, shrinking back. “N-no! Of course not!”

He grabbed my by the chin and yanked me to my feet. “I didn’t hear a SIR in there! The first and last words out of your mouth should be SIR! Every goddamn time you talk to anyone with three or more chevrons! How many Chevrons are on my jacket?”

I gulped and could not help but shake a bit. “S-sir! Three sir!”

“What does that make me!”

“Sir! A Sergeant sir!”

He nodded. “Maybe you can learn maggot! Sit your ass back down!”

I sank back down, shaking badly. Someone up the row snickered, and instantly he was stomping forward, even as the train screeched to a stop past a sign that read “Camp Hooftington. Ponies enter here! Soldiers exit THERE!”

“IS SOMETHING FUNNY WHELP! DO YOU FIND ME AMUSING!”

As the mare struggled to respond, the other sergeant yelled “Everyone up! On your feet, orederly line, you WILL get off this train and into formation! Six abreast, ten deep, then start a new formation! The area outside is called the Grinder! Remember that!”

I jumped to my feet, but nearly instantly the sergeant that had yelled at me first said “EVERYONE SIT!”

We all sat, and the other one yelled “On your feet! ORDERLY!”

After four more tries, we all began to shuffle quietly and orderly off the train, where we were met with the chilly night time air. It had to be just above freezing, and I was wearing a tee-shirt. A mare outside in an army jacket with a cap stood there, staring at the train, and one of the sergeants came over to her. “Fresh veg for the blender Gunny. Mind if Blitz and I get some grub?”

She nodded, and they left. As we stood there, silent but for the occasional sneeze or muffled cough, she looked over a list.

“Is there a Mister Steel Hoof present?” she finally called out. At the word “Steel” my heart nearly stopped, but then a young earth pony stallion called out “Here Ma'am!”

She looked up, a look of annoyance on her face. “Fall out of formation, recruit! You got a ticket back home! Rest of you! Double time it inside! When you get into the hallway, you will go STRAIGHT down it, do not turn left, do not turn right, do not stop. When you get to the end, there will be double doors. At those doors is an officer, you will all halt, salute, and say 'Good Morning Sir!' When you have done that, he will reply with the same, and the doors will open. There is a large room beyond that with desks. You will each take a book off of the wall next to the doors, and one by one stand up by the desks, leaving no empty spots. When all of the desks are full, you will, all at once, sit down and open the books up. They are the Equestrian Armed Forces History guide, and you WILL learn it cover to cover! Inside are your general orders, that you need to memorize by the end of the third day. Do you all understand that?”

“Ma'am! Yes Ma'am!” was the chorus, although at least half of us said nothing.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ALL OF YOU! I ASKED A QUESTION AND I EXPECT AN ANSWER!”

“MA'AM! YES MA'AM!” came the much louder reply, and my voice scraped raw with my shout. She nodded. “Mhm. Damn right. Fucking recruits.”

Three tries later, we all managed to 'about face, left' to her begrudging satisfaction and were marching quickly down the hallway. By my luck, I was in the front row, on the far right side. As the end of the hall came into view, I saw an officer with a silver maple leaf on her collar, an earth pony. As we approached, she looked up, eyebrows raised. I stopped, as we had been told to, but the guy behind me didn’t and I ended up falling forward a step as he ran into me.

As the officer looked on, we organized ourselves a bit better and we all stood up. The Sergeant to the side barked “Greet the officer! I am SURE she would LOVE to know you all love her!”

We all looked at her and said “Good morning, Ma'am!”

She chuckled and nodded. “Good work Sergeant. Now, all of you lot. I am nice. The Seargents around here are not. Their job is to make you as miserable as can be, and you will learn to hate them in the weeks that you are here. But that is good! The more you hate them, the more you will learn. Past these door is going to be your issues. At the first train station, you were all sorted into this group. From here on, you are First Regiment, Fifth Battalion, Seventeenth Platoon. There are one hundred and fourty four of you, and if all goes well, there will still be that many when you all get out of here. Now, I want to go get some sleep, so you all listen to Buck Sergeant Striker.”

She walked off and he looked at us. “You will all go directly through this door, an go into the center of the room. Once there, you will form an orderly line and remove your clothing. That includes undergarments. If you have issues with modesty, I suggest you put them aside. Ladies, right now every guy in here is too tired to care about your tits, and gentlecolts, I can garuntee that by the end of this training, you will only ever get a hard on for the army.”

There was silence, before the doors opened and we marched into a large white room with uniforms in one corner, and the others filled with various supplies at stations. “Everyone! Follow the signs to the letter! You will fill your Army Duffle with the supplies the signs indicate. I sure hope you know the right uniform size, because no one leaves this room until everyone is in a uniform!”

I was too tired to care at this point, but I walked in and everyone looked at each other. Finally, I shrugged and started to pull off my pants and shirt, tossing them into a pile at the side of the room. My body was not too bad, all things considered, but I was a bit underweight from not eating much lately. Being low on bits will do that to you.

“Nice scar, what's that from?” came a voice next to me. I looked over, and blinked twice. Next to me was an orange mare with a fiery red mane and a short cropped tail. She was also totally in the buff and standing there without a care in the world. The scar she was talking about was on the back of my neck, running down my shoulder and ending a quarter of the way down my back.

“I, ah, that was.... t-that was from a fall I had when I was a foal...”

She laughed and said “Name's Orange Blaze. You still don’t have your Destiny Mark?” she asked, looking at my arms. Her upper arm sported a long tongue of flame curling around an iron bar.

“Um... n-no...” I said, moving over to the clothing section along with everyone else. Looking around, I finally located the section with uniforms in my size. In the back of the room, the sergeant... erm, Buck Sergeant Striker, prowled, occasionally shouting at someone to move faster.

Pulling off a jacket, I checked the size and pulled it on. As she opened her mouth to speak again, a loud voice from behind said “All right! Get your cloths and take a seat once you get your pants on!”

After a few more minutes, I sat down in the second row of people, looking forward. Up in front, a younger looking sergeant walked forward with two unlaced boots.

“Ahll right, if'n y'all look up here, ah'll show ya how ta lace up yer boots. Y'all got pants on? Recruit! Yeah you with tha yellow mane! Catch that fly! Everyone else good?”

I looked over as one flustered mare zipped her fly up, and others checked their cloths. Many people still had red cheeks, and no one was meeting any eyes. Finally, the sergeant cleared his voice. “That there earlier sergeant was Buck Sergeant Striker, an' he's yer Senior Drill Sergeant. He gots three chevrons and one rocker, with Crossed Rifles. That means he's a infantry grunt, same as y'all are gonna be. Ah'm Sergeant Bad Apple. Yeah, Ahm related to tha element o' honesty, as yah mightta thought from mah coat. Ah used to be a applebucker, workin outta New Mexicolt. Now, Ah gots nine confirmed kills durin tha changling invasion, so if'n ah could learn to be a soldier, so can y'all. Y'all got that?”

“Sir, yes sir..” came the weary reply.

“AH CANT HEAR Y'ALL! Ah asked if y'all can be soldiers!”

“Sir! Yes Sir!” came the much less resigned reply. He nodded and sat down in front of us. “Ah'll right, ya take the string like so and make sure you fold it in half. Then...” he said, and the next half an hour was spent learning how to properly lace boots. Following that, when everyone had boots on, we learned how to blouse our trousers, between the third and fourth string loopy thing, or “this here loopyhole, ah forget tha name.”

It was instantly clear we were gonna like Sergeant Apple, as he seemed to actually enjoy being here. His accent threw a funny spin on everything, but he was able to clearly explain things, and as long as we didn’t ask the same question more than once, things went fine. Once we had our uniforms on correctly, we all got up, holding our freshly packed duffel bags.

“Ahll right, if'yall maggots'll follow me, ah'll show ya to yer new home. Come on, stand to!”

With that, we formed two lines, and walked out the door with him. Outside, the road stretched onwards and onwards, past many buildings. The first one was a tall red hospital, but there was a base firestation as well, and what looked to me to be a miniature weather factory. Once in a while a truck loaded with crates drove past, and in the early morning light it became clear that we had been up all night.

As we marched, Sergeant Apple finally started calling time with “Left, Left, Left Right Left...”, and gradually we fell into the rhythm. I yawned, and Orange Blaze stifled one of her own. “Its cold...” she whispered, shivering. I nodded, and kept going. All around us, other recruits kept eyes forward or on their feet, but no one really looked at each other, the memory of the mixed changing room fresh for everyone.

“Hey Blaze... you have really nice t-”

She nodded and said “I know, right? I mean, I look in the mirror and I'm like 'Dayum, girl' every morning.”

I rolled my eyes. “I was gonna say 'tattoos', not... erm...”

She sniggered, and a moment later a voice up ahead said “I HOPE THAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT HOW TO WIN THE WAR RECRUIT!”

After that, we marched in silence.

Four hours later, we had taken medical examinations, a basic educational test to figure out how smart we were, and gotten our attributes tested. My wing power had clocked in just above average, and Orange Blaze told me that she was just a tad bit stronger than baseline for an earth pony. The mess hall was a different affair from anything I had done before, even from high school. For one, we were not aloud to hold idle conversations. We could talk about our general orders, and we could teach proper military manners for eating (e.g. don’t stick your face into the food), and we all had to sit in alternating genders. Sergeant Apple watched over all of us with a stern gaze, and a quick word was enough to shut most people up.

Despite being conscripted, most of us were not too upset at being here. I for one understood that I had signed up for the selective services, and while that just meant I was in the first wave of draft notices, I had pretty much volunteered anyways. This... it needed to be done. The nation provided for us, and in return, we needed to provide for the common defense. It was also the first time in my life I was a part of something larger than myself, and the first time that, despite not having my Destiny Mark, I fit in with everyone around me. True, everyone else I knew in the platoon already had theirs, but none of our talents meant squat here. I am pretty sure that being good at playing hopscotch was not really a military skill.

“All right! BOOTS! Get up! Time to get issued your Rifles!”

With that, Buck Sergeant Striker was back, and scowling as much as ever. I looked at blaze and grinned. “Rifles!” I said, smiling. “About time!”

She nodded as we got up. Taking our chow trays to the washing area, a bunch of people in the kitchens took them, and I nodded my thanks. Outside in the hallway, we formed up into two lines again, and moved out. The trek along the base took us nearly half an hour, and the air was very chilly. Along the way, we passed two Crow-like people, and one dark skinned Zebra. I leaned over to Blaze and whispered “Who are THOSE?”

She looked and whispered back “Those are Tengu, probably from Chineigh. And that one is a Zebra from Zebracica, or mayby Zebracity. They are not very imaginative with names...” she said, but at a stern glance from a Drill Sergeant in another company that was passing us, we both shut up. The rest of the journey was done in silence, but a cool breeze pushed through our new uniforms and made us all miserable with cold. All along, the road was perfectly straight and level, and many parts of it looked very new.

Finally, I heard “Company... HALT” from up ahead, and we came to a stop. In front of us was a tall gray building with two guards outside. The Drill Sergeant, Apple I think it was, nodded and we were allowed in. Inside, there were racks and racks with sleek looking rifles. My heart jumped at them... many ponies disliked rifles, other than farmers who used them to defend against predators, but when I looked upon these fine instruments, all else dulled down and I just stared. The sleek beauty of these tools of war captured my gaze, and for a moment I forgot I was conscripted.

That only lasted for a moment, however, and at a barked order, we all listened up. “All right! Every one of you will get a rifle. These are FFI M1 Rifles. The M stands for Mark. They are Semi-Automatic, Clip-Fed, Gas-operated rifles. Can ANYONE tell me what all of that means?”

We all looked at each other, before he sighed. “All right. Mark One means the first of its model. Until recently, we used much older, single shot bolt action rifles. These are a step up. Iron Sights, unless you are a sniper, and the Semi Automatic means that every time you pull the trigger, it will fire a shot. Clips are a group of ammunition, in this case on what we call a Stripper Clip. All of the shells are held into a long curved piece of metal by the ring on the end, like so” he said, showing us ten rounds held into a long bit of metal. “Makes reloading fast. You feed the clip into the top of the gun with the action open, and it reloads your gun. Slide the feed closed, and the gun is ready to go.” He closed it, and the gun made a clicking sound. “Now, I need a volunteer. Any takers?”

Everyone looked around, but in an instant I stepped forward. “Sir! I volunteer sir!”

He looked on, before grinning. “Idiot recruit, what if the job I wanted was for the target?”

I looked around, and Blaze grinned at me. I felt a hot flush, and for a moment felt strangley coruagious. “Happy to die for my country sir! Thats what I'm here for!”

He stared at me, and then barked out a laugh. “All right! Then come on up!”

At that, I froze. Was he SERIOUS?!? He must have seen the look on my face because ALL of the drill sergeants present burst out laughing. “Come on up. Take the rifle, you get to try your hand at demonstrating how to miss a target by a mile.”

I sighed in relief and stepped up. He led us all out the back of the Armory, and to a long and wide field. Out in the field, there were a bunch of metal... bench looking things, like what I guess you would set a bottle on. Looking down the field, there were targets down range, pretty far away. Even my Pegasus eyes could hardly see them properly from here.

“All right. You are going to take this rifle, make sure not to point it at anyone, and try to hit the bottle out down field. If you need me to show you where it is, then you might as well hand me the rifle and take a desk job. Got it?”

I nodded, and stepped up, taking the gun. It felt... oddly heavy, but I got a bit of a thrill holding it. Looking down range, I took the rifle and held it in a way that felt natural, the butt of it against my right shoulder, and the sights in front of me.

“All right, the back sight doesn’t move. You need to align the gun so that the sights are level with each other, and the front line is in the middle of the groove in the back. Money in the hole, and a bullet between the eyes. Got it?”

I nodded, and looked down the field. There! A small green bottle. Flim Flam Cider, it seemed to be... I stood there, both eyes open, but looking down the right eye and the barrel. Breathing out, I slowly squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The gun kicked me in the shoulder, but down the field, the bottle exploded. There was silence, and then Sergeant Apple looked through his binoculars. “Holy shit Bucky! He got 'er!”

The sergeant snatched the binoculars, and stared. “Lucky shot. Recruit, How about you get down on your belly like a worm, and try hitting that gryphon head down the field, fartherst to the left.”

I nodded and said “Sir, yes sir!” as I lay down. Propping my arm up on the ground, I leaned the gun against it, using my left hand as a makeshift stand to steady the end of the gun. Looking through the sites, the targets suddenly jumped into clear focus... it was like I could see all the way past the sites, and right at what I wanted to hit. The target had to be twice the distance as the bottle... Thinking back to high school physics, I lifted the gun a bit, and squeezed the trigger again. Once again, I felt a thrill, even as the gun kicked, and a tingle in my arms. With a loud retort, the gun sent a few ounces of death down the field, and the sergeant swore. “Shit! Apple, you see that shit?”

I looked up, confused. “Sir, did I do something wrong? Sir?” I asked, worried.

He looked down, and his gaze lit upon my arms, and for the first time, he gave a chilling smile.

“No son. I wish I had ten more like you. That Gryphon target was two hundred yards. That bottle was seventy five. And you hit it right between the damn eyes. I wish I had a hundred more like you. Sergeant Apple! Get this Stallion a Whinnychester! One of the new Mark Fives!” Turning back to me, he said “You are Platoon Sniper. And you might want to check your Mark.”

Confused, I looked down. On my upper arms, there was a rifle crossed with a knife. Around them was a red circle with four lines on the edges.

I was a sharpshooter. Go figure!

Chapter 3

Dear Mom,

I know you are scared about me going off to fight a war, and you haven't heard much from me, but I wanted to write you finally about my training.

Yesterday, we all graduated Basic Training, meaning I am now a Royal Equestrian Soldier. I'm a Sniper! Out of the top ten divisions, I have the number one score across every marksmanship board. Sidearm, Rifle, SMG, you name it, I got the highest accuracy!

This brings me to my second point, and promise me you wont freak out. I can already see you sighing, but here goes: I got my Destiny Mark. Orange Blaze snapped a picture, it should be attached, but it shows that I am really good at fighting. Buck Sergeant Lightning Striker said that I was actually worthy of my uniform.

Most of the people here are not very happy though... none of us want to go and fight, but we mostly understand that it has to be done. It makes sense, as Great Breytan just declared a state of total war against the Crimson Alliance, and surprised Princess Celestia by requesting that we proved ships to move ten thousand of their soldeirs to the mainland... and that is the next bit I need to tell you about.

By the time you get this, I will be on a Naval Ship heading to Great Braytan, where we are getting ready to stage some sort of invasion on the shores of Prance, in a place called Normaredy. I'm a bit scared... I'm a sniper, and that means I am supposed to sit as far from battle as possible, but in the end, I'm just a soldier and I gotta go where they tell me to. The Buck Sergeant said any of us could leave any time we wanted, as there was a soldier in a watchtoer at the gate ready to shoot deserters. Oh, the Company Lieutenant, Butter Bar, is calling for us. I kinda like him, he just graduated, but he is... not very bright. Anyways, if all goes well, my pay should be getting sent to you. Don’t save it! Spend it to make sure you have enough to live! If I come home and you haven’t gained a few pounds, I'm gonna cook nothing but cake and pies for a year!

Love,

Lance Corporal Steel Wing

1st Infantry, 5th Regiment

2nd Company, 17th Platoon,

9th Squad

I looked out over the edge of the railing on the boat. I was stronger, faster, and smarter than I had been a few weeks ago when I had walked through the doors at Basic Training. I knew how to fold and stow gear, I knew how to make a bunk properly, and I loved shooting. I had been issued, in the end, a Whinneychester Special Applications Rifle, Anti-Personnel/Anti-Material Scoped Rifle, Bolt Action.

It was chambered in a .308 round, and it was able to punch through very light armor and kill the soldier inside, and I could hit a moving target nearly three hundred yards away with it, or one standing still at five hundred. Of course, I had yet to shoot anyone, but I was the best marksman this side of anywhere. I grinned to myself, and a voice next to me asked “What'chu grinning about, Wing? Still got a boner for that rifle?”

I turned. Orange Blaze stood there, her helmet under one arm, smiling at me. “Oh, you know... just thinking about how many gryphons we are gonna kill. I hear we are gonna hit tGreat Braytain, pick up a bit of extra training, and then ship over to Gryphany. Er, Prance, but you know what I mean.”

She nodded, looking out over the waves. “Didja hear? Major Leaf, that officer from Boot, is in charge of our company. All of us are fresh vege, but she took a liking to us after that stunt us in the seventeenth pulled on Hearts and Hooves day. She said she had never seen such a thing in her life.”

I laughed, as did two other passing soldiers who heard it. On Hearts and Hooves day, nearly five hundred of us, mostly stallions, took it upon ourselves to piss in the snow. Only, we didn’t piss our names. Instead, we made a two hundred foot picture of Bristlebeak, along with a heart, and many references to the things we would LOVE to do to him. After the attack on Icelock, we were rather upset at him, and the next day, the major had nearly shit herself laughing at what we had done. The picture included our opinion on the size of his genitals and how many wives he had vs how many of them were actually little fledgelings.

I chortled at the memory. All in all, boot had not been that bad after the second week. We got used to the running and the pushups, and I got to stretch my wings when we did tribe-specific exercisers. Hand to Hand drills had been a nightmare though, and I learned to avoid Blaze. She was a menace with her fists, and twice she had broken my nose by accident in the ring. She had even knocked down Buck Sergeant Striker with the Pugil sticks, and he had NOT been happy with that. By an odd coincidence, we ran ten miles the next day.

“Hey Blaze, any-” I started, before the 1MC overhead spoke “Attention! Attention! Due to better than expected weather, we will be making landfall on Great Braytain in Four Hours! All Royal Soldiers must make ready to disembark at that time! Attention! Attention! Due to better than expected weather, we will be making landfall on Great Braytain in Four Hours! All Royal Soldiers must make ready to disembark at that time! Thank you!”

Blaze looked at me and sighed as we headed back through an open door. Luckily neither of us were suffering from sea-sickness, thankfully, although more than a few of us seemed to be pitching our carrots over the railing. The ship we were on, ERS-Indomitable, was a Troop Transport Ship nearly the size of the ships the Pegasi used for mobile airbases, and carried nearly five thousand soldiers in cramped quarters. She was armed lightly, but off to the right... er, starboard, as it were on a ship, the Battleship ERS-Dauntless and the cruiser ERS-Sunlight Surprise were guarding us.

As we walked through the bowels of the ship, heading for Section Gamma, other soldiers were packing their bags, cleaning their guns, or otherwise managing buisy works. Here and there officers were getting to know their sergeants, sergeants were lamenting their North-Point ROTS/OCS rookies, and troops grumbled about anything up to and including how many people were grumbling.

Upon reaching our bunks, Blaze looked at me and asked “Hey, you started to say something before the overhead cut you off. What did you wanna know?”

I glanced at her. “Hmm? Oh, I was wondering if you spoke any Gryphon. I learned some growing up, one of my friends went to Flight Camp with me. There were a few there, including one really mean one named... Glider? Gilded? Something like that. They were very proud, but even that... Ah, Gilda! Even she wouldn’t go along with just slaughtering innocents. I can speak it pretty well, and read it, but Markus said that my accent was terrible.”

She shook her head. “Nope, never had any call to speak that language. I usually prefer to let my actions speak for me anyways. Is that the major?” She asked, looking over my shoulder. I glanced behind me and yelled “Officer on Deck!” as I snapped to a salute. All around me, others did the same, and silence fell.

Major Leaf walked forward, looking from side to side. “You guys the Seventeenth? The ones that piss in snow?” she asked, a corner of her mouth quirking up. Looking around, she considered each of us. All of us in here had been in the same boot division, and there were still one hundred and forty four of us. A sergeant stepped down, chewing the end of his ciggarett. “Yes Ma'am, thats us.”

She looked at him. “Sergeant, you the senior enlisted man here?” she asked.

“No, ma'am, not any more than anyone else here. I just got higher marks in a few places, and Sergeant Striker told me to slap on three chevrons and a rocker, made me a Buck Sergeant. Said no one would know the difference on the battlefield anyways.”

She nodded. “Thats fine, just do your job. Anyways, I want all of you to meet Lieutenant Butter Bars, fresh out of North Point. He's just fine, so don’t worry. When I am not around, he is. Now I know usually there would be a captain and two lieutenants, but we are a bit stretched for manpower here. Who is my Company Sniper?”

I stepped forward, shouldering my rifle. “That would be me, ma'am. Corporal Steel Wing, Sniper.”

She looked me up and down, her gaze lighting on my Mark. “Alright... you good with that thing, corporal?” she said, grinning.

I smiled back as best I could, a bit nervous at a nearby superior being happy. “Y-yes ma'am. Ninety seven percent accuracy against moving targets at one hundred yards. One hundred percent at two hundred against stationary, but only seventy three against moving.”

She nodded. “I am assigning you and Ninth Squad to be my personal squad in the future. I'm your CO, you report directly to me, and when we go into battle, all of you stay within ten feet of me.”

I nodded, and Sergeant Bubbles stepped forward. “We're all yours ma'am!”

The Lieutenant turned and smiled at us all. “It's good to meet all of you!” he said as the major left. “I hope we can all get along well. Now... I know this isn’t something you usually hear from an officer, and really not something you want to hear at all from your leader but...”

My heart prepared to sink, fearing that he was about to prove all of the rumors about ROTC officer, but then he spoke again. “I would really like it if you, Staff Sergeant.... Stoker? If you could help me out a bit. I don’t have much real combat experience, and I'm not too proud to ask for help. Watch my ass, and I will make sure we all get home. Deal?”

There was a moment of silence, and then the staff sergeant, usually silent by default, pulled out a cigar and offered it to the Lieutenant. Peace had been made.

Four hours later, we all stood in a long column, getting ready to head out and off the ship. Above us, the Equestrian Army Anthem started playing, and the Major cried “Forward, HARCH!”

Left, right, left, right. Forward we all marched, the Lieutenant next to us with his sword. All of us were in our best uniforms, and as we headed off the ship hundreds of Braytish civillians on all sides cheered. The town we were going into looked... bad. Sections of it seemed to have been bombed, and off in the harbor there was a smoking wreck of a ship. Smoke curled up from a blasted building to our right, and more than a few of us paled at the sight of the damage that the Gryphic air force had inflicted. Forward we all marched, the anthem blaring overhead to cheer us forward, and the looks of hope on these ponies faces was far greater than any of us had expected. A mare came forward towards me, and at a nod from the Lieutenant, I fell out of formation as the mare, not much older than a filly, leaned up on her tip toes and put a flower in my jacket pocket. Others were presented with similar gifts. The major received a gold watch from an elderly stallion in a uniform from the First War, who nodded and went back into the crowd. My rifle slung across my back as I fell back into formation, and marched along.

After nearly half an hour of parading and showing that we were in town, Major Leaf called “Company... HALT!”

We took two more steps and then stopped. Out from behind a podium, an elderly stallion stepped forward and said “Thank you, Equestrian Soldiers. We asked for help on behalf of our sister nation, Prance.... she has fallen under attack from the Gryphans, and in exchange for your help, what we have is yours... we don’t have any barracks here, so our citizens have agreed to quarter you. Please, rest and relax a bit before you go off to fight. I wish there was more we could do for you, but we had to repel several attacks already, and we do not have much left in us. Thank you again for your help, but I imagine you are all tired... Major Maple Leaf, I gave you the housing assignments. Can you see them off?”

She nodded while we all looked on. Around us, corporals and civilians handed out slips of paper. “NINTH SQUAD! Look for the Inn at Fifth and Maple! You will be staying upstairs!”

I looked at Blaze and grinned. “Hear that? An Inn! Bed and breakfast!”

She giggled and said “Sounds great. Think we can fall out yet?”

I looked around. Everyone else was already on their way to their places of residence.

The in we were staying at, called 'The Hungry Dragon”, sported a large dragon with a gaping maw on its sign. The interior was cozy, the downstairs sporting a small bar, a leisure parlor, and best of all, a radio with a table and many chairs. The only thing that had me wondering was the company. Other than Bubbles, who we had met on the ship, and Blaze, from Boot Camp, I didn’t know anyone else in Ninth Squad. Nevertheless, we all went inside with the Major. Looking around, Blaze quipped “Wowzy shit. How did we get a sweet place like this?”

Major Leaf laughed. Butter Bar grinned as he spied the Wine Rack, and made a beeline for it as the major replied “Perks of having a senior officer as a loveable breezie godmother. Plenty of bunks upstairs, but I gotta split and talk to General Marshal. You kiddies enjoy yourselves, okay? And Butter, make sure to settle in. I know out of OCS you expected to get a couple of squads, but in this one, we're a family. Everyone should know what they need to do.” At that, Butter Bar nodded and we all got ourselves settled in.

Two hours and three shared bottles of '22 Red, we were all getting to know each other well. I took a sip from my bottle, and looked at the Warrant Officer with the black cloak for a mark. “So... sir, you mind if I ask where you are from? And, erm, your name?”

He looked at me, and shrugged. “Name's Wire Tap. Mareiapolis. Graduated from Canterlot University with a degree in Cryptoanalysis, and then went to Reingly to join up with Royal Intelligence.”

The room went dead silent, and Butter Bar's eyes bulged as he overfilled his mug with ale. “You... you're a spook?”

Wire Tap grinned. “Yes, sort of. Technically, I am just on the front lines to gather intel and radio it back to HQ. But the real reason...” he said, leaning forward and whispering conspiratorily, “Is that I owe Major Maple Leaf my life. When I was working a nasty case undercover in Baltimare, trying to rout out a Gryphic Terror Cell, I got my cover blown. They cut off my wings, and the only thing that saved me was Major Leaf happening by the bar they were gonna gut me in. After that... I swore my life to her. Princess Luna, my boss, was NOT happy, but agreed to let me serve her until my debt is payed.”

I looked at him, noting the nubs under the back of his uniform. “And... when is that?” I asked, genuinly curious. “Is there a time limit on that, like when you get out of the intel business?”

He shook his head. “It ends when I die.”

We all went silent, looking around at each other, before Bubbles sighed and said “I'll go next. Name's Bubble Popper. I REALLY loved to jump on that packing plastic when I was a foal, and my mom figured that it should stick. Anyways, I got assigned with Major Leaf when we were working up in the Crystal Empire on a year long deployment in Icelock, co-ordinating with Shining Armor and his soldiers to give them some experience in modern equipment and Tactics. They were still using Muzzle Loaders and swords with steel armor. Gave me a scare when I asked one of them if they wanted to spar, and he pulled out a claymore. NOT the mine, the fucking sword” he said, as we started to laugh.

“Yeah, I bet you shat yourself sarge!” said the soldier to my left, a Lunar Pegasus mare, her leathery wings twitching as she laughed. “I wish it WAS a claymore mine though!”

All eyes turned to her. She looked around, and her left eye twitched. “What? Explosions are fun. Ask Hoofie over there! He used to be a miner!”

Eyes went to Iron Hoof, the corporal who was easily as big as any two of us put together. Standing over seven feet tall, his arms were at least as thick as my thighs, and his hands were like spaded shovels. He looked down at us from a bottle of pure grain alchohol, and sighed. “Name's Iron Hoof, but you already knew that. I worked the mines since I was about a wee colt, pushing carts at first, before swinging a pick. Hard, honest labor.”

I took a swig of my ale, having long since finihsed the wine, and hiccuped. “Ain’t mines dangerous?” I inquired, shuddering at the thought of being underground in small tight areas all day.

“Yeah, they can be. But then I got enough money to go to Mareami University of Technology. Got a Masters in Engineering using their accelerated program in about... three years. Top of my class.”

I gawked at him, as did everyone else. Blaze piped up “You have a degree? Why don't *Hic*you have officer stripes then?”

He sighed. “Was offered, but since it was'nt a REAL degree, gotten in four or six years, they were reluctant in the first place. And someone as big as me has no damn business sitting in an office filing paper. Not when I can pick up any of you and the gun you are holding in one arm. You think Apple Farmers are strong? I've been able to lift two hundred pound rocks over my head since I was fifteen. That's why they gave me this” he said, hefting a Browning Automatic Rifle. Long strips of amunition sat neatly piled next to him. “And what about you, miss batpony?” he asked, turning towards the lunar Pegasus. She grinned.

“Name's Shadow Step! I'm from the Darklands to the southeast. Cold, always night there because of some sort of curse put on it by a cult or something. But I LOVE blowing things up. They gave me a Rocket Launcher after I kept stealing them and going onto the range. I know how to mix explosives too, got an associates of Chemistry in community college! If anyone needs anything blown up, let me do it! PLEASE!”

Her voice was fast and a bit high, and her left eye twitched on every fifth consonant. Her wings flutterd quite a bit, and she talked very quickly overall. I shied a couple of inches from her, and she turned, grinning with her fanged teeth. “Something wrong, Corporal? I don’t bite... often” she said, before nipping at the air inches from my muzzle. My face felt flushed, and Blaze giggled. “Don’t Tease him, you crazy bat. He's never been-” she started, before I grabbed a biscuit and shoved it in her mouth. “HEY LOOK AT THE TIME GOTTA SLEEP!” I said in an excited hurry, getting up. Blaze guffawed around her mouthful as the last member looked up from a dismantled radio in his lap. “Hey! Don’t forget me!”

I looked at him as he said “Eh, not much really. Name's Radio Wave, and I love working with Radios. And anything else that uses EM radiation. Wanted to go to Tech School, but got drafted instead. Same as Miss Silk, right?”

A mare in the corner working on some knitting nodded. “Was going to be a vet, love taking care of animals. Then the fucking recruiter came by, handed out draft notices, and BOOM, army medic instead.”

Looking around her, I asked “Did you forget your gun?”

She shook her head. “I wont let them put one in my hands. Having to help people kill each other is bad enough. I told them the farthest I am going is patching you lot back together so you can go and have a second chance at dying. And a third and seventh if I do my job right. Conscientious Objector, means I wont fight or even defend myself if someone comes at me. Killing another thinking being ain’t right, no matter how you justify it. But until everyone is finished killing each other, I can't go home. So knock yourselves the fuck out” she said, before going back to her knitting.

The radio Radio Wave's lap sparked to life, one of our army long-range backpack radios, and he slid it into the metal case, twitching a dial. Satisfied, he turned it off. That was when I thought I heard something.

Ears perking up, I looked up at the sky out the window. “Hey guys... do you hear that?”

They all looked around, and Bubbles shrugged. Butter Bar walked over towards the door and opened it. “I gotta-” he said, before stopping dead. Upon opening the door, a buzzing, whining sound filled the room. A distant sound like rolling thunder suddenly resolved into the sounds of explosoins, and bright light visible past a few buildings spoke of fire.

Then a slight whistle and the sound of God clapping turned the world white, and the windows shattered, throwing me across the room. What had been peace turned to panic, and I blacked out.

Chapter 4.1 (Side Story)

I didn’t want it to end like this!

Tears fell down my face as I lay faceup on the cobblestone pavement in the streets of this Brayton city. Why me? Boots thudded all around, soldiers running down the road to rescue others, but I lay half hidden under a fallen piece of debris. I couldn't move my legs, and my face felt hot and cracked.

I had been running, running, with the rest of the squad, doing some night time PT to get stoked for the invasion next week. Sergeant Hard Times had been singing us the Cadence, and we had been enthusiastically repeating it back to him to keep time. We had not heard the growl of the bombers until the sirens went off, and we had been caught unawares as the first bomb dropped less than ten feet from our squad. By a miracle, I had been just about to come around the corner to the street that it was dropped in, and instead of being vaporised by the blast, I was thrown thirty feet, and had felt like I was punched in the small of my back as a bit of building landed on me. My rifle was knocked away from me, and I couldn’t reach my pistol.

Looking around, I feebly cried out “H-help... please, someone h-help...”

The thud of boots stopped, and in front of me appeared a white mare with, of all the things to notice, a pair of knitting needles peeking out of a hip pocket. “IRON! WE GOT A LIVE ONE!” she yelled, and a moment later, the largest stallion I had ever seen picked up the chunk of rubble as though it weighed nothing, casting it to the side.

“P-please h-h-he...” I got out, before coughing up a large amount of blood. It landed on her uniform, and she called “Help me move him! Get him to the side of the road!”

Hands grabbed me, and a moment later I was on the sidewalk, head held up a bit. She looked over me, ear to my chest. “Internal damage, probably bleeding. Hey! Look here!” she said. It took me a few moments to notice her snapping her fingers, and I looked at them, confused. “I... I need my shquad...” I slurred, before shaking my head. I felt a sharp prick, and my pain vanished. My head remained a bit fogged, however.

“No good. Lieutenant Bar, he's in mild shock, and we don’t have anything that can fix him. He's gonna die sir, recommend we move on.”

The officer looked at me, and nodded. “Sorry, we can't help you. I'll let someone know where to pick you up.”

I looked at them, panic grabbing me. “N-no! I c-can fight... h-help me up...” I said, before I leaned back, coughing again. My legs wouldn’t move. She shook her head, and they got up, moving down the street. “We gotta get going! Major Leaf is in the command center, we need to check in on her. Word is that-”

Their voices faded, and I looked down at my chest. There was a long piece of bar sticking through my stomach, although I couldn’t feel it. It was really kind of a bit of a lamp post, the kind they have around here that work off of gas or something... I didn’t know.

There was gunfire a few alleys away, and a number of screeches and curses in... Gryphic! I reached for my pistol, but it was gone. I dimly rememberd the bat pony from earlier taking it... they... they just left me to die... Tears filled my eyes again.

Suddenly, there was a loud THUD just off to my left. Looking that way, there was the body of a Marine Private, laying supine on the ground, eyes glassy and chest torn out. Before I could cry out or check him, a gryphoness lightly touched down. She had a bloody gash along her thigh, but she nevertheless carried herself as a predator. She was a lot smaller than the males, not much bigger than me. Staring at her, and her staring at me, a few moments passed. Then she turned away.

Sudden panic clawed at me, and I cried out “P-Please don’t go! I...” I said, before coughing interrupted me. “I... I don’t want to die...” I said, tears falling down my cheeks.

She turned, and came back over to me, looking down. Against the firelight of a burning building around the corner, she looked very fierce. “Zere is nozing I can do to save you, mine sworn enemy” she said, her accent very thick.

I stared up at her. “Please... then... d-dont go! I d-dont want to be alone...” I begged, grimacing against the onset of pain. Whatever morphine it was, it wasn’t enough.

Thinking, she finally came over and squatted next to me, before sitting down with a grunt. An odd sub machine gun clinked against the ground, and she tilted her head. “You die soon enough. But no one should die all alone. Tell me, pony soldier, vy do you vight?”

I choked a bit, and she helped me lean up against a wall, before pulling out something that was NOT water, but the burn dulled the fire in my guts as I drank. “I... I was forced to fight... they drafted me.”

She leaned back. “I vight because mine lord commands it. Glorious cause, I zink not. But good vight, ve will have. You vight now, against the end. Tell me, are you avraid?”

I looked at her, eyes still watery. “Y-yes! Please... c-can you s-” I started, before slumping over, coughing again, lungs feeling full of water. Alot of blood came out, and she leaned forward, pulling me back up and pressing me against the wall.

“No, I cannot zave you. You are Gratash'nak. How you say it, doomed. You not live much longer, then I go back to mission. Vat were you, before war?”

I gulped. “I-I wanted to be a cop... my b-brother, S-Silver Star... he is the Town Sheriff of Ponyville... h-he is my older brother” I said, feeling a bit lightheaded. “He helps people...”

She scooted a bit closer, eyes keenly focused on me. “Do you have anyzing for him? Letter?”

I nodded, looking down. “M-my left pocket.... but... i-its got blood on it....”

She reached forward, and took it out of my pocket. It was soaked with blood, and I knew that it was all mine. Opening it, she squinted. “Dear Bruzer.... if you're reading... ah, in case you die. Very clever.”

I looked up at her, pleading. “C-can you... I know you are... enemy.... get it to him?” I asked, suddenly desperate that he get this. She nodded. “Upon my, how you say, honor. I see he get it. War have rulze” she stated, as if it was a simple fact. I relaxed a bit, starting to feel warm. Minutes passed.

Finally, I looked back at her. “T-thank you.... not.... leaving” I croaked, smiling a bit, the tears on my cheeks now dry.

She nodded. “I keep you till Der Talik comes... the Dead Maker.”

A few silent minutes passed, and then I asked “W-will it hurt?”

She tilted her head. “I waz told that it is like falling asleep. Bright light, then with loved ones. Muzzer? Fazzer? Sizter? All wait for you on other side. Ponies go to endless fields. Good friends, all gone, now back. Play forever, be like foal again. Unless bad, then go to Tartarus. But you good?”

I nodded, tearing up again. “I tried my best... I really did! But-” I said, before suddenly I couldn’t breath. My eyes went wide as I struggled to draw breath, but when I opened my mouth, something in me broke and blood poured out, the metallic taste letting me know that this was it. Hacking it up, I drew one sputtering breath as she leaned me over and lay me all the way down on my back.

The night sky was moving towards dawn... or at least, there was a bright haze above me. The pain washed away as she looked down on me, more like an angel now, and I felt her beak on my forehead and then my muzzle as she muttered something, but all I could register was my mother, smiling, and my father, a proud smile on his face that I had done my duty. I closed my eyes, a much fainter smile forever etched on my face while a gryphon finally took off, returning to her mission.

Dear Brother,

If you are reading this... I'm really sorry. I wish I could have made it back... but I guess I had a bit too much of dad in me. I really don’t regret following in his footsteps, even if I didn’t choose it. But I want you to know, war sucks. It really does. First week of boot camp, one of the other recruits died, but we all moved on. I haven’t fought yet, as of writing this, but we are heading to Great Braytan tomorrow. We get on some sort of massive troop transport ships, and then go off to war.

Listen, I know you are gonna be upset. Just remember what I did okay? The thought of dying... it really scares me. But most people don’t get to choose when or where they die, like mom. But others, like dad, at least know that it will be sooner rather than later, and there IS a bit of comfort in that. I wish I could have gone back home, in like five months I was gonna get some leave if we were not invading anything important and come home and see how you and Pinkie Pie are doing. Don’t lie! I know you like her! And I know you asked her to be your fillyfriend last week. She wrote me. The Drill Sergeants still cant figure how she fit a party cannon in a small envelope, but I told them that pinkie probably had it enchanted or something.

Still... if you ARE reading this, that means I cannot do any of those things. It means I am not gonna be home for Hearths Warming Eave, or Hearts and Hooves day. It means that all those things we were gonna do... you gotta do em for me. Always you were the older brother, but this time, I get to protect you. Whatever you do, DONT give up your job and come over here. We got enough warm bodies, and more than enough guns to wipe out the gryphons twice over! We got this bro!

Tell Miss Cheerilee that I miss her, and that I wish I could have given that lecture to the new students about law, but that I am doing a job over here. I know it's a lot to ask... but can you bury me out near the cottage? The one Grandpa and Grandma are buried at? I really like the view...

I love you bro, and remember that I will be looking out for you from up here. Take care.

Love, Private Gold Star

PS Your brother died with honor. I stood vigil for him as he perished, and he faced his end with more courage than many of my comrades. ~Girda, First SS, Gryphany Special Forces.

Chapter 4.2 (First Blood)

I sat up, groaning. Glass crackled all around me, and I grimaced as a bit dug into a palm. A fire raged across the street, and I pulled myself up, ears ringing. Next to me, the Lieutenant pulled himself off the bar counter and looked around. Bubbles shook his head while Wave pulled the Radio Backpack on. Everyone else was in a similar state, and we slowly collected our wits.

“What the HELL!?!” cried Shadow Step, looking around. At that moment, the Air Raid Sirens started, a long keening wail that started low and ascended, before dropping off over and over again. The sounds of thunder greeted us, but in this case, I knew that that was the dropping of more bombs. “Sir! I think we are under attack!” I shouted, ears still buzzing. I grabbed my rifle, looking across the street. The bomb must have landed right around the corner from us.

“NO SHIT!” he yelled. “Come on! We gotta get moving to the Command Center! We gotta find the Major!”

Running out, he used quick hand signals to put us in formation. Blaze took point with her Submachine Gun, and I followed close behind. Other squads were running, and abruptly the sound of Antiaircraft Artillery started up. The thudding of large 40 millimeter flak cannons was pleasant, and a burning bomber spun out of the sky. Off to our side, there was a faint cry of “H-help...” from under a bit of fallen rubble.

Private Silk jogged over, and I followed. A soldier lay there, face slightly burned, and a long pipe sticking out of his belly. A chunk of building lay over him, and he squirmed feebly. “IRON! WE GOT A LIVE ONE!” she hollared, and Iron Hoof came over, easily tossing the chunk aside. “Help me move him to the sidewalk!” she instructed, and I shouldered my rifle into its sling, grabbing one of his legs. The poor fellow didn’t look like he had much left in him. She snapped her fingers, testing for shock, and he seemed dazed. He muttered something about his squad, and she jabbed him with a morphine syrette. “No good, Lieutenant Bar. He's in mild shock, and we don’t have anything that can fix him. He's gonna dies sir, recommend we move on.”

I just stared at the poor fellow. Not only was he going to die, he was going to die all alone. I felt my gorge rise a bit, but swallowed hard, focusing on the mission. Lieutenant Bar looked down at him. “Sorry we cannot help you. I'll let someone know where to pick you up.”

As the dying soldier protested, we moved off. Silk stated “We gotta get going! Major Leaf is in the command center, we need to check in on her. Word is that it is that way” she said, pointing down a street. The lieutenant raised an eyebrow. “What word?”

She said “That things” as she pointed at a sign that said “COMMAND CENTER ON MAIN STREET”

He looked at it and said “.... I knew that! Lets go! Keep an eye out, sometimes they like to drop spec ops when they do their bombing!”

“Sir, want Wing to get on the roof tops and keep an eye out for us?” asked Wire Tap. Butter Bar nodded. “Yeah. Wing, get your flank up there and keep overwatch. Shoot anything that has beaks and claws.”

I gulped and nodded. This was it! What I had trained for! Taking wing, I jumped into the air and fluttered up to the top of the nearby building. It was a two strory tea shop, and the roof was only lightly sloped. I easily found purchase, and scanned the nearby streets. Walking along, I kept pace with the squad as they moved on down the streets. For nearly five minutes, we navigated a city that was on the tail end of a bombing run. Apparently, the rumor that they woud not be able to launch another attack for a few weeks was unfounded, but maybe they put everything they had into one surprise attack, hoping to kill us before we even launched for their shores. A cold fury took me.

Suddenly, there was a gunshot, and the lieutenant shouted “GET DOWN! SNIPER!”

At that word, I slid down to the edge of the roof and took cover beind a chimney. Another loud CRACK sounded, and I saw a flash from a belltower on a church. In the gloom, I could not make out a target though. “Sir! I can't see him clearly!” I shouted, looking down at the street. Then I got to curse and dodge behind the chimney as a shot blew a chunk of masonry off of the roof next to me. Below me, I could hear yelling and more gunfire, this time a bunch of rifles rather than whatever the sniper was using.

I peeked around the edge, and saw another flash as his gun went off. No one screamed, so I assumed he got nothing, but suddenly, there was a flash of light that revealed a dim shape in the tower. Raising my rifle, I propped it on the edge of the chimney and clicked the dial to fifty yards. A short shot, but one I could easily make. Aiming for the center of mass, I exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, took one more breath, and held it. A slight squeeze, and there was a surprised squawk from the other roof. Taking flight, I jumped and settled on it, sprinting at the tower. I needed to press my advantage now!

A shot from the street sent a sliver of stone across my cheek, but then I was tackling a figure that fell out of the bell tower.

It was a male gryphon, about a third larger than me, and blood poured from his chest. His eyes were wide and glassy, and a rifle fell from his lifeless claws. I had killed him. A wave of nausea came over me, and I nearly tossed the booze from earlier. Thank celestia we had not drank much... Below me, the sounds of fire escalated, and then stopped. Sighing, I turned around and walked to the edge away from the corpse. Down below, my squad had been joined by what seemed to be two others, including the major.

At a signal, I fluttered down, landing nearby. “Did you get him?” asked the Lieutenant. I nodded.

The major looked around. “The attack is over, they had only about fifteen bombers. They mostly hit the south side of the city, the general thinks they lost their course and missed the harbour. I was on my way back to meet with you guys when it started. Everyone accounted for?”

To general relief, all hands were indeed accounted for, and we all stared at each other. We had just had our first small taste of combat, and I had not enjoyed it one bit.

Chapter 5

D-2

I sat, feeling a bit glum, in a huge open field outside of Gladesgow. The town sat on the coast of the Great Braytish island, and the cold, gray skies did not help anyone’s mood. Not enough Pegasi could be mustered to clear the weather, and the Gryphons had sent out a stormfront to dampen our moods in the three days since the night time bombing raid. I was in the third row from the front, and we were being briefed on the upcoming invasions.

Up ahead, Major General Raging Storm, a MASSIVE brute of a unicorn, stood with Major Maple Leaf, Major Azure Skies, Lt. Col Green Plank, and Commander Ivory Tower. They were quietly talking, and had been for nearly an hour. Finally, he turned around, and his horn flared in what was revealed a moment later to be an amplification spell.

“LISTEN UP! You are all about to be witness to the greatest speech in history! MINE!

In a few days, the exact date being yet to be determined, the Royal Equestrian Army will launch the largest amphibious attack in recorded history. Drawing support from Caneighda and Great Braytan, we will land nearly a quarter million soldiers on Horshoe, Omareha, Sabre, Eclipse, and Hammer beaches. These are all beaches in Prance, nearly one and a half thousand miles from HERE, across the Braytish Channel. The Second Naval Battlegroup, led by Admiral Rising Tides, will be escorting two thousand troop transport ships. From those ships, you all will get into boats to take you ashore. Pegasi, as much as you may want to, do NOT fly onto that beach. They will pick you out of the skies! Any of you that can wink, don’t bother. The whole idea is to swarm up there like changelings, and take the beach by storm. DONT leave your comrades behind!

For all of you with doubts, think of this! The Gryphon Empire has shown that it is a bit nervous about us coming into the fight. Though this is the beginning of the war, our hope is that by next Hearths Warming Eve, you will be safe and home. They have not had time to fortify Prance, and that means it is our ONLY way into the mainland. Chineigh and the Crystal Empire are working against the Neighponeese, locking down their Marelantic fleets, and the Royal Marines are assaulting the Solomare Islands, hopping from one island to the next to seize valuable staging points. All of that will be for nothing if we cannot press in on the south-western flank of the Gryphon empire. If we fail, they will be able to attack Chineigh and the Chineigheese will fall within four months. After that, we would be totally on our own, and unable to withstand the might of two empires. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are counting on us to make this happen. Princess Twilight Sparkle is the supreme commander of the Western Front, while Prince Shining Armor, her brother, is in command of the Eastern forces. They are both brilliant tacticians, so don’t you all worry that some idiot like me is in command. After this briefting, all of you need to report to your staging areas for a further breifting in four hours by your regimental commanders.

Back to the plan at hand, this is to be called Operation: Overcast. This plan has many moving parts, and each one needs to go off perfectly in order for this invasion to work. If we fail this beach landing.... we will not be able to invade this way again. All of you are the best of the best, and the only ones free for this assault. Don’t let us down!”

He nodded sharply, and there was dead silence. Most of us were thinking about that horrendous bombing three nights ago, and the fire and dead civillians. I already wanted to simply go home, and I kept remembering that young stallion in the road, the one we left to die. I had gone back over, the next morning, and found his body, a smile on his face as his open glassy eyes stared at the sky, seeing nothing. He didn’t have a letter or anything on him, and I didn’t even know his name as his tag had been ripped away.

Looking at Blaze, she shrugged as we all started to get up. We had been told to attend this breifing in order to get an idea of what was going down, although I saw no real purpose in divulging this plan to us, the simple rank and file. In the end, my job was to get on a boat, get on a smaller boat, ride said boat ashore, and kill anything with a beak and feathers. I would probably die. Still, I had no doubts that I would be able to pull the trigger. The loud bang, and the squak of the Gryphon Sniper on the roof had confimred that I was more than able to kill.

“Hey, Wing, think we should grab some chow before reporting into the next lecture?”

This came from Radio Wave as he walked next to Blaze and me. All around us, the enlisted part of the squad converged. Iron Hoof shrugged as he added “I can always use something to eat. Grub around here ain’t all that bad.”

Shadow step giggled. “I really could go for a steak, really. I know YOU don’t eat meat, but us lunar Pegasi can get a bit peckish for red, juicy MMF” she said, before Bubbles put a hand over her mouth, glaring. “I already want to puke, don’t add your gastronomic preferences to the list of things that make me sick, eh private?”

She nodded, a twinkle in her eyes as I rolled mine and walked off. “Something got you down, Sarge?” I said, looking at him. He sighed.

“Look, I hate to say this, but this operation has me scared. My grandma, Crystal Ball, she had the gift of sight... or so she always said. No one believed her but... she knew when bad things were happening. And... I got a bad feeling about this. Eh, don’t worry about it, you lot. Just an old sarge griping” he said, as I paled a bit. The thought that this rock solid sergeant could be scared had me on edge.

“HEY! SARGE! Don’t you go scaring my men!” came a chipper voice. I turned and snapped a salute along with everyone else as Lieutenant Butter Bar jogged over. He snapped one back and said “Hey, sergeant, you got bad thoughts, mind keeping them locked down? We don’t need that around here. You all know he's full of shit, right?”

I looked back and forth, along with the others, before the sergeant grinned and said “Hehe, don’t you all worry. I'm just pulling your legs is all. El Tee, wanna grab some food with your grunts?”

A breath was let out as the tension defused, and a moment later we were all on our way to the mess hall. It was busy, and a open-air affair. Several dozen chefs worked their magic on crappy army food, turning the nasty pickled vegetables and other assorted grains into stew and heavy salads. Our squad walked along a line, holding out our mess kit cups to get a ration of soup.

The Lieutenant wrinkled his muzzle. “You guys actually eat this shit? We get REAL food in the officer mess. The hell is this shit? Sergeant, is this standard?”

Bubbles nodded. “Been eating it three meals a day for four years, sir. Don’t plan to stop anytime soon. Why, what do you get?”

The Lieutenant continued to have a scrunched up muzzle as he stared at the gray-green glop in the bottom of the tin cup. “Erm... Usually salad and tea... what is this?”

We all sat down around a fire, and I looked up. “Permission to make a guess, sir?” I asked. He sighed and shrugged, and I kept going. “Well, to my eyes sir, it is all of the nutrition needed to keep one soldier going for four hours until the next meal. But I think there may be more to it than that.”

Blaze nodded. “Sir, I think Corporal Wing has a point. This is meant to boost our morale.”

At that, everyone looked over, including another squad that was passing us. They stopped as Shadow Step snorted into her cup, and Radio Wave guffawed. “Morale? THIS slop? Ain’t this what they feed hogs?”

She cleared her throat. “Under a VERY BROAD definition of morale, it is just about anything that keeps a soldier moving forward, right? Morale is that thing inside of us that USED to be there, about week three of boot camp, that told us that this was a good fight, that we would get to go home after being heroes. Ain’t that right sir?”

“Yeah, Blaze, that sounds about right. And this helps... how? I feel depressed just LOOKING at it, let alone actually thinking about eating it.”

Suddenly Shadow Step started laughing. “I get it! Ooh, pick me, I get it!”

I grinned at her. “Care to tell the El Tee why this keeps us going forward?”

She nodded as Butter Bar looked at her, eyebrows raised.

“Sir, do you want to win this war quickly and stop eating this, or keep fighting longer and eat this forever?”

He snorted, and we all dug in.

A few hours later, we stood in formation in a smaller clearing. Colonel Forward Thinking stood next to Major Maple Leaf and looked out over us, Fifth Regiment. In here were First, Second, Third, and Fourth companies, and two other captains in charge of their respective companies. We were lucky, as we got a whole major to ourselves.

“Alright, listen up. You all heard the Major General earlier, but now is our specific assignments. We, the Fifth Regiment, will be carried via Amphibious Assault Landing Craft to Omareha beach. It is expected to be heavily fortified, and we are expecting upwards of fifteen thousand birdbrains on that beach alone. The bad news... well, it is the 297th Clawverkrin, under Oberlieutnant... thats Colonel, for you that don’t speak Gryphic, Colonel Darmach Stormcrow. While he isn't the best tactician, he listens to orders from his superiors and is known for getting the job done. He has fifteen successful operations in Zebracity, and two against the Chineigheese. He has not lost a battle yet. YET being the keyword.”

All around us, we were casting uneasy glances, and there was a low murmer. Back at home, over the radio, we had heard rumors that he ATE fallen pony soldiers, even in the middle of battle. He was vicious and cruel, and he enjoyed instilling fear in his enemy. A white flag usually just served to mark his targets, although he harshly punished those who purposefully killed Medics. He followed the Rules of War... technically. Eating your opponent was still a cruel thing to do.

Finally, the Major stepped forward. “Alright! We know what we are facing, and you all trained for this ONE thing! I promise you, I will be right on that damn beach with the lot of you maggots, and to hell with anyone who says otherwise! I want that beach, and whoever brings me Stormcrow's head on a pike gets free drinks for life! WHO'S WITH ME?!?” she cried.

For a moment there was silence, and then I looked directly at her. In her eyes, there was not a manic gleam like Shadow Step had. It wasn’t the calm focus of Bubbles and Iron Hoof, it wasn’t the hope in Radio Wave's eyes... she had... trust? She believed in us. Her eyes met mine, and, as if from somewhere else, my voice cried “Hell yeah ma'am!” as arms that were not my own lifted my rifle above my head. That was all it took as nearly three thousand strong voices cried out against the foe we faced. I cried out again, and our cheer lasted nearly five minutes. Beside me, Orange Blaze had a manic look on her face, mouth stretched wide. We had a bit of hope, thanks to Major Maple Leaf.

D-1

I stood in front of Orange Blaze, gulping. She grinned down at me from on top of her pillar. Below us was the Sandbox, or as we had taken to calling it, Pitfall. I flared my wings a little bit, trying to balance, but the breeze dragged me forward. Clutching my pugel stick, I waved it back and fourth before swinging as hard as I could. Unfazed, she didn’t even budge as she took advantage of my opening, pushing me backwards. Flapping, I pushed myself forward and recovered.

“What's the matter, pretty bird?” she taunted, before twitching the stick forward. I flinched, backsteped, and fell off of the pillar. Bubbles guffawed as he helped me back up, and my cheeks flushed red.

“Damnit Blaze! I wasn’t ready!” I said, before the Breytish combat instructor stomped over. “The hell is wrong with you, Corporal?!? You think that the damn birdbrains are gonna wait for you to be ready? If she was a gryphon, you would be dead! What was the sequence?” she cried.

“Parry, Recover, Stab...” I said, looking down. The combat instructor, a Donkey with an evil look in her eye, nodded. “Lets see you do it again. Blaze, get down here. You seem to have a knack for this. Get him ready. Iron Hoof, Radio Wave- er, hmmm.... Bubbles, get in the ring” she said, much to the tiny Radio Wave's relief. Iron Hoof towered a good foot and a half over him, and could probably accidentally break his arm.

Blaze stood over me. “You never were very good at this were you?” she said, picking up a practice rifle with a rubber bayonet. “Didnt you SEE those gryphon claws?”

I nodded. “I don’t really want to get into close quarters with them anyways.”

“Again!” the instructor cried.

D-Day

The day of the invasion dawned gloomy and dismal. At four o'clock in the morning, or Zero Four as those of us in the military called it, we all got out of bed, heading to the mess hall. Major Leaf joined us, and many looked at her with awe and respect. Yesterday, word had spread like wildfire that she would personally lead the attack on Omareha beach, much to the irritation of both her junior officer, and her senior officers. I was glad that she was coming, but on the other hand, that meant that I would have to follow her into the fire. My hands this morning would not stop shaking as we all headed onto the boats that would carry us across the channel.

“Hey, Blaze... you think we are gonna make it through this okay?” I asked as we went up the ramp with about ten thousand other soldiers. She shrugged. “Hard to say. I mean, on paper this plan looks solid. They have good defenses, but they barely have enough ammo to kill half of us. Unless this goes pear shaped, I bet Major Leaf will get us through this” she stated.

Iron Hoof nodded. His deep voice said “Well, personally, I pity any of them that come within reach of me. I just got my brass knuckles” he said, grinning. I chuckled. “Something funny?” he said.

I shook my head. “Naw... but look what MY mom sent me” I said. Everyone gasped, It was a genuine Colt Revolver, standard issue for police in Cloudsale. “She said that my boss wanted to send me something to make up for me having to go overseas, and he and everyone at the factory pitched in to mail me this thing. Chambered in Fourty Five Magnum, it's gonna go right through any protection those beakheads go. Anyone want a piece of this?” I said, grinning.

Butter Bar reached over. “Well, as your commanding officer, I order you to turn that over to me, Corporal” he said, grinning. I snatched it away. “Not a chance, sir! I plan on putting this beauty right up Bristlebeak's gaping a-”

“SILENCE!” shouted Major Leaf. “All of you in First Infantry? We are landing on Omareha Beach. Colonal Forward Thinking will be aboard here, so keep your radios tuned in to give sitreps on the go! There should be one radio for every two squads, so make them count. We land in about half an hour, people!”

A cheer went up, and we took off over the waves, the Equestrian National Anthem playing loudly over the 1MC.

Chapter 6- Blood on the Sand

I shivered, sitting in the bottom of the steel amphibious landing craft. The climb down the rope ladder from the side of the troop transport ship had been bad enough, as the seas today were gray and choppy. The skies overhead were just as gloomy as my thoughts, and Weather Command had whipped up a slight storm, just enough to ground flying units. It would be impossible for the gryphons to use their flight to attack us in our boats, but it meant that Pegasi like me could not fly to freedom either. This would be a battle between ground pounders, and the only ones really happy about that were the Earth Ponies.

Looking across from me, Butter Bar sat there, a slight tremble in his hands as he unscrewed the cap to his canteen, taking a gulp. Radio Wave sat right next to me on my left, grasping his Tome of Light and eyes closed, praying. Blaze put her hand on my shoulder, squeezing tightly as our boat went up and down in the surf. The morning was totally silent but for the sounds of the ocean and the occasional whispered prayer. Sergeant Bubbles grimaced as he pulled out a wad of tobacco and stuck it in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully, and Major Leaf took a few puffs from her pipe. Finally, I looked at Blaze.

“You okay? I mean.... this is it...” I said quietly, leaning over towards her. “This is really it...”

She nodded. “The Day of Reckoning, that's what everyone is calling it. If we can pull this off... we can take the fight to them...” she said, wincing at a spray of icy seawater. Iron Hoof grunted, shifting his massive BAR over to the other side and rubbing his shoulder.

Finally, there was the first whistling sound, and a massive “SPLOOSH!” as a moarter went off next to us. I jumped slightly, and Radio Wave whimpered. There was a massive explosion to the right side of the boat and water poured over the side. Major Leaf swore loudly and viciously as the water soaked her pipe, and she stuffed it into her front left pocket. “Heads up, Heads up! When we hit the beac, do NOT stop moving! Do NOT stop for the fallen unless you have a medic symbol somewhere on your uniform! Get to the first piece of cover you can grab, and stay put until you get orders!” she shouted, looking around.

Butter Bar looked up, gulping again. “Half of you exit left, the other half exit right! Keep plenty of space between soldiers. One soldier, a waste of ammo. Five is a juicy opportunity! I wanna see all of you at the seawall! Radio Wave, stay on my ass! Bubbles, go with the major! Wing, you and Blaze do your best to stay alive. Blaze, we NEED that flamethrower to clear the bunkers, got it?”

She nodded, and held the nozzle out. Major Leaf produced a lighter, and the small pilot light was ignited as Blaze cranked a valve. I grinned halfheartedly at her. “You know, under other circumstances I would be calling you pretty hot...” I joked. She smiled slyly at me. “Lets get up that beach, and you can get me a drink, kay?” she said, and I flushed slightly, looking back.

“Stow it you two! If we get up there, I'm buying us ALL a drink!” shouted the major. The Coxswain piloting the boat cried “FIFTEEN SECONDS! CLEAR THE RAMPS! PLENTY OF GLORY FOR ALL OF YOU, HAHAHA!” in a gleeful tone. He was met with thirty glares, and gave a psycotic grin as the boat accelerated. Fifteen.... Ten... Five.... A slight bump, and everything was silent.

Often, I found myself noticing the tiny things. A random piece of equipment, a leaf telling me what the wind speed was, a slight temperature difference that I knew could throw my aim off. Other times, I saw really big things. A missing grenade pin, someone who forgot their ammo pack... that sort of thing.

But times like this... just like in that bombed city, what struck me was the SILENCE. The boat had stopped, and in this half second before the ramp went down, everything was dead silent as two opposing forces held their breaths. A slight quickening of the pulse, and there was a few thousand intakes of breath. One or two clicks of weapons being taken of safety finally... but... the silence. I swear, if you had dropped a pin, everyone on the beach would have heard it. A slight twitch could be FELT across the beach...

And then there was the splash of the exit ramp going down, and a bullet hell ripped through both of the soldiers in front of me.

Gasping, I reeled backwards, only to be shoved forward as Blaze shrieked. “Get going get going get going! MOVE!” she screamed, and Lieutenant Butter Bar dove forward into the water at the end of the ramp as Sergeant Bubbles took off running behind the major. Up ahead, there were obstacles inteneded to stop the boats from properly beaching, but they had been hastily deployed at high tide, and now only proved cover for us as we got off the boats. I sprinted forward, the world outside deadened as my vision zoned in, a tiny circle containing only a beach obstacle that promised safety. To my left, a soldier I didn’t know fell into the water, screaming as her entrails fell from her belly like worms from a rotten apple. I blearily gazed at her as I fell in behind the obstacle, and three others instantly huddled up next to me. A bullet ripped through my left sleeve and left a searing pain on my wrist, and I screamed out. For an instant, I thought it had taken off my hand, but a moment later I confirmed that everything still worked.

To my right, Blaze had her back to the obstacle, eyes closed tightly. “Shit shit shit shit shit...” she kept muttering over and over. Radio Wave was on the next one over, talking to Butter Bar. Finally, I poked my head out a bit, and a bullet spanged off my helmet, dazing me. Blaze stopped me from falling into the drink, and I looked at her. Her face of fear had twisted into nausea, and I clung to her arm as she pulled me back into cover.

“LIUTENANT BAR! LIEUTENANT BAR! THE FUCK WE DO NOW?!?” came a cry from Wire Tap, who clung to his barrier. He was closer to the boats, and he was waist deep in water. Shadow Step stood next to him, eyes wide as blood streamed down her left side. One of her wings had a hole ripped through it, but she didn’t seem to notice. Butter Bar looked at a map held in shaking hands, and said “Where the HELL are the DD tanks? The hell is our ARMOR?!?” he screamed. I looked back over the water, and saw that one was floating in the wrong direction.

Grimacing, I jumped out of cover and ran towards him as Blaze screamed at me. What the hell was I DOING? I thought to myself, grimacing. Sliding in next to him, I shouted “Foundering, sir! I see one floating backwards! I don’t think we are getting any armor support on this beach!”

Radio Wave shouted into the radio, then turned to the lieutenant. “Command says that the beach is already pre-sighted! We gotta move! In about ten minutes, a destroyer is gonna hit this section of beach with 105s and 243s to clear the obstacles! We gotta go NOW!”

He looked around, and I followed his gaze. “MAJOR LEAF! HEY LEAF! We gotta move! Command is gonna bring the hurt right on top of us in about ten!”

She nodded, and made a series of hand gestures. Beside her, Bubbles nodded and shouted “MOVE UP THE BEACH! GET GOING!” as he lept the obstacle, and took off sprinting. She followed, and a moment later, Butter Bar pushed me out. “Move move move! Get to the seawall, it has defilade from the bunkers!”

Once again, I found myself running up the beach towards certain doom. Two bunkers lay in front of us up a small bluff, one on either side of a steep dirt path. Barbed wire was on the top of the seawall, and on the other side was a small trench with gryphon soldiers throwing lead at us. Major Leaf sent up a magical flare, and it ignited in a starburst, signaling everyone to move if they hadn’t heard her orders. My lungs burned as I ran the hundred yards towards the seawall, a three foot high embankment of sand and rubble meant to stop the trenches from getting flooded at ultra high tides. In front of me, a gryphon soldier stood up, rifle leveled, before his head jerked back and he fell. I didn’t know who fired the shot, but at that moment I didn’t care as I dove into cover, once again safe for a moment. Major Leaf slid in next to me, and Radio Wave took up the other side. The moment he slid into cover, he grinned at me and gave me a thumbs up. “I'm alright! I'm doing fine!” he shouted. “Lovely fucking day corporal!”

I just stared. Everything was happening VERY quickly, and I felt a hand on my shoulder. “TELL HIM TO TELL COMMAND.... Omareha is NOT open, not yet! We NEED DD tanks on the beach NOW! If they can do that, we got this!”

I turned back to Radio wave, who was still grinning stupidly. “DO IT!” I shotued at him, and inched up the seawall a bit. There was a soft “Thud” as something landed next to me, and I stared a a short bar of metal with a bulge on one end. A moment later, my brain kicked in and I shouted “GRENADE!” as I flung it away with my wing. It exploded in the air above us, and everything went silent but for a ringing sound.

As I blinked to clear my eyes, everything around me was rendered in stark detail. Wire Tap was lying on the sand, coughing as he wiped a smear of blood off of his face. Iron Hoof was holding down a pony with one leg missing so that Shining Silk could bandage it. Several medics worked their way across the beach, moving from dead to dying as they practiced their craft. Shadow Step clung to her rocket launcher, mumbling to herself as one of her eyes had blood in it, and her wing drooped. Butter Bar was about ten guys down the line, shaking a private and giving him a good slap as the private nodded. Bubbles was in the act of throwing a grenade over the wall, plugging his ears...

There was a slap, and my focus snapped back in. The sounds of gunfire raged all around me as a bullet buried itself in the sand next to my shoulder, and Major Maple Leaf screamed “What did he say? What did Wave say?”

I rolled over. Wave grinned at me, and I shook him. “WHAT DID... Oh shit...” I said. His radio smoked, and the back of his head was missing. Blood oozed out of his ears, and his face was frozen in the grin he had given me a few moments back. “No no no.... shit! WAVE!” I screamed, the mix of emotions inside me dulled by adrenalin and sheer panic. Shaking him did not produce the desired response, so a moment later I turned back. “He's gone! Major, they fucking killed him!” I screamed, panic overcoming me. “They killed him and they're gonna kill us to! MAJOR!”

She swore, and yelled. “BANGALORS! WE GOTTA CLEAR THAT WIRE! GET BANGALORS!” Leaf turned over and several long tubes were produced. Radio Wave grinned at me still, and I stared into his face. He was barely out of his colthood, and everything he would ever be was now gone... how could they... How could they!

A rage welled up inside of me. For the first time in the last half hour, I was not scared, but pissed. Radio had worked hard on his radios, and he didn’t fucking deserve this! As the explosions went off, blowing barbed wire to bits, I jumped up. Major Leaf screamed at me, but I didn’t care as I hopped the seawall and jumped into the trench with two very startled gryphons next to me. Other ponies fell into the trench, and the ground washed with blood as I grappled with a large beast.

He threw a punch, but stopped halfway as my bayonet buried itself in his chest. Pulling back, he fell to the ground and I looked to my right. Blaze stood there, having kicked the other one over and over until he simply lay down, groaning. Major Leaf grabbed me. “YOU FUCKING IDIOT! FOLLOW ME!” she shouted, and we clawed up the other side of the ditch in the ground. The steep path up ahead of us went between two bunkers, but they could not see or fire on each other, meaning we had to divide into two squads to attack them. Behind us, a few hundred were still pinned on the beach. “We gotta clear those bunkers so that we can get men off the beach! Problem is that there is a machine gun post that has both of those bunkers zeroed in up on a small hill. I need you to take the gunner” she said, and we pulled up along side one of the concrete fortifications.

The rest of our squad lined up behind us, and I peered out. Up a hill, there was a sandbag wall protecting a machine gun, but down the hill there was a pile of rocks that provided convenient cover. Out on either side beyond the bunkers, other structures and the like were scatterd, troops rushing back and fourth, but for now, if we could clear this area, we had a path behind their death squads. “Get to that rock wall! Everyone else, COVER HIM!” she shouted, and Butter Bar leveled a Thompson Submachine gun, spraying up the hill. Everyone else screamed, swore, or otherwise made as much noise as they could manage while I executed the world record for a twenty yard sprint, slipping and rolling the last three feet into cover just a a round flew over my head.

Climbing to my feet, I pulled the slip off of my scope, and aimed up the hill. A gryphon peered over, and I squeezed the trigger. A puff of pink and feathers, and he fell. I opened the bolt, pulled back, and a round popped out. Reversing the actions chambered another round, and I aimed at the gun itself. With sure accuracy, the gun popped off of its emplacement, falling over the edge and dragging a very unlucky featherhead into several soldiers angry fire. The rest of the fortification gave way, and four more soldiers tumbled down. One of them drifted into my scope, and at twenty yards the shot was patheticly easy. Cold fury gripped each of my shots, and I executed them with determination.

With the threat of the overhead gunner neutralized, I turned and shouted “GO GO GO!” as the Lieutenant and Major nodded, waving half to each side. I jumped, following Iron Hoof as I let my rifle dangle, pulling out my sidearm, a the Colt Revolver that my mother had sent me. Moving low, Major Leaf, Iron Hoof, Wire Tap and I all slunk along the edge. Wire Tap pulled the pin on a grenade, and threw it into the bunker. With a muffled thud, smoke billowed out and two gryphons stumbed out coughing. I put one of them out of their misery, but the other one, a MASSIVE gryphon in an officer uniform and with a red crest, roared and jumped, flapping hard, and tackling Iron Hoof.

The two tumbled down, and then both sprang up. The gryphon grinned and spat something in his language, a knife in one clawed hand. Jabbing forward, his eyes went wide as Iron Hoof caught the hand, the knife impaling through his own, and closed his fingers around the now bloody fist. Squeezing, he twisted and twisted until the oversized bird went to his knees, eyes wide, shrieking with panic. His feathers fluffed up, and then Iron Hoof brought his other fist, complete with Brass Knuckles, across in a brutal haymaker. The gryphono went limp, head tilting at an unnatural angle, and Iron Hoof grimaced as the knife came out of his hand. “I'm good! Get em!” he shouted, and I jumped into the trench. Major Leaf and I jumped in, and a lone gryphon shot at us, his lugar clicking empty. Major Leaf grinned as she stepped forward, smiling. “Missed sucker! Guess you guys ain’t that good after all!” she crowed.

He scowled at her, hands raised. “I didn’t meese! Pon-ee SKAHM!” he shouted, and to my left there was a soft sigh. Major Leaf whirled around at the same time I did, to see Wire Tap on the ground, one eye a blood mess, and the other closed.

Time stretched as the majors face twisted in pain, and the gryphon behind her lunged. With a hoarse scream, I jumped at him, tackling him to the ground and sitting on his chest. Left, right, left, right, over and over I beat him in the face. His beak shattered at the same time as one of my fingers, but I kept going over and over, the world around me dissolving in red and gray, and his head tilted back and forth to alternate with my fists. To the right, I saw fire spit out the front of the other bunker, and screams in two languages met my ears.

Finally, the pain of three of my knuckles shattering brought me back, and I SAW below me. The gryphon's body twitched every now and then, but his head didn’t have much of a face anymore. The major cradled Wire Tap's head, and the rest of the squad was outside. Blaze's tear streaked face met mine, and I slowly, shakily, stood up. Shimmering Silk got up from next to Wire Tap and shook her head while everyone else came into the bunker.

“We... we made it... it's started” said Butter Bar, and the rest of us all stared at each other.

The Beach was Ours.

The Exploits of Major Leaf and the First Infantry, landing on Omareha Beach, were nothing short of legendary. The various regiments on the sectors of that hellish sandy landscape each had their heroes, but Major Maple Leaf of the Fifth was noted for successfully taking the single most difficult section of the beach, resistance wise. Despite nearly seventy percent casualties, the troops, in particuar her personal Ninth Squad, took down two bunkers that allowed soldiers to storm up the path and sieze nearly three hundred prisoners of war and kill nearly five thousand others. Naval Bombardment resulted in the beach being occupied within twenty four hours of initial landing, and to this day, historians disagree weather it was genius or insanity that paved the way to victory on that hellish morning.

However, victory, though costly overall, weighed heavily on Major Leaf. Private Radio Wave and Warrant Officer Wire Tap did not make it out alive, and Iron Hoof suffered complications in his hand for a week due to minor ligamant damage, although he is credited with killing a gryphon minor chief.

Chapter 7: Long Walk at Night

Dear Mom,

Alot has happened since I last wrote you. I'm in Prance right now, along with the first wave of the Equestrian Army. The Gryphons are putting up a good fight, but most of their soldiers have already been through five years of war away from home, and the ones this far out offer the least resistance, even though they are the most experienced in the area. I lost one of my friends... Private Radio Wave, a young radio operator. War really isn’t fair, but we all raised a drink for him. I know, I know, I'm not old enough, but Sergeant Bubbles said that if we were old enough to fight, we were old enough to drink. The hangover was nearly as bad as invading the beach.

I know you worry, and I know this probably doesn’t help, but I wanted to tell you that I miss you and I cannot wait to see you again. Princess Twilight says that the war will probably be over by Hearths Warming eve, but with that nearly a year away, that didn’t raise morale a lot. If I get lucky, I can do something really heroic like Dad and get sent home early, or maybe piss off Butter Bar and get kicked out of the army. Anything can happen, right?

Tell my boss that I say thanks for the gun. I already used it to defend myself once, even if the ammo is hard to get. The Quartermaster just glared at me when I asked for Fourty-Five Magnum, and told me that it wasn’t a good day for joking. Anyways, I would write more, but I don’t have a lot of time right now. Just know that I will see you soon, and I cannot wait for this all to be done.

Love,

Corporal Steel Wing

I handed off the note to the Mail Sergeant, and he left. “LETTERS! ANYONE ELSE GOT ANY?” he cried, walking down the line. I sat back and stretched, rubbing my shoulder. Iron Hoof was getting used to his hand working again. He had gotten lucky, that knife had missed all but one ligament, and had only slightly nicked a bone. He had been famous on that beach for killing the commanding officer with a single punch, although the current version of the story had him facing against ten squads with nothing but a combat knife and a stolen luger that had only two shots in it. The story was long and convoluted, but ended with him sexually molesting the skull through one or both eye sockets, depending on who you asked. For the most part, he just ignored people asking about it.

Maple Leaf and Butter Bar were both gone, leaving us enlisted unattended for the time being. Naturally, this was the time for gossip and idle rumors. I decided to go first, beginning with “So, you guys hear that Major Leaf told command to-”

“Yeah, yeah, we ALL heard about it” said Sergeant Bubbles. “They wanted an early naval bombardment, but Major Leaf was not very fond of the idea of letting about seven hundred wounded make an early exit. Freaking open channel, and of ALL the things we could have heard her saying, it was THAT.”

Shadow Step snorted. “Personally, I thought they deserved it. They wanted to drop eight sixteen inch shells up and down the beach to clear obstacles when we were STILL FUCKING ON IT. Not ONLY does command decide to hit this beach with too few troopers, they then just want to wipe it clean? Not really good if you ask me.”

I nodded, glowering at the ground. “Considering how much the Great and LOVING Celestia claims to care about us all, she didn’t hesitate to let Luna send us out to get mowed down like harvest. I mean, why didn’t we shell the beach FIRST, and THEN land? Anyone got a reason for that?”

“BECAUSE,” came a gruff female voice from behind us, causing me to wince, “All our warships were busy making sure that the Neighponeese didn’t shell your sorry asses into paste. They had a full battlegroup moving to blockade this beach, and we lost five ships including a carrier making sure that we could have a CHANCE at landing on this beach. And don’t let me EVER catch you speaking in such a manner of her royal highnessess again. Got it?”

I gulped, nodding at Major Leaf. “Yes Ma'am. Won't happen again, Ma'am.”

She nodded, looking tired. “Alright, you lot, get up. We have a job. In a week, my company, yourselves included, are heading out towards St. Feathersburg so that we can get some damn armor down towards Sword Beach and the landings there. The first wave failed to take the beach, we finally just got word.”

I paled. “Ma'am.... how many...” I started, only for her to sigh and look down. “Fifteen thousand, all Killed in Action. They took no prisoners. But that is where we come in. Or more accurately, YOU, Corporal Wing. You are the best marksman we have out here, right?”

I looked around, before Blaze said “'Course he is, Ma'am. If anyone can make any shot, it's him.”

She grinned and nodded. “Oberleutnant Gernrl-Schief Redwing is the commanding officer of that beach, and a certified tactical genius. He held that beach with only six thousand, all from his personal company, and took less than four hundred casualties. We need to kill him before we send another wave in. A prisoner of war just told us about a small path, about fifty miles, that winds between these beaches. Redwing is going to be en transit from the beach to his family estate in Redwing Manor about seven miles from the beach, they also have an artillery battery set up there. Probably four Eighty Eights, or maybe One oh Twos.”

We all gathered around as she unfolded a map. It depicted the terrain between here and Redwing Manor, and on it I could see plenty of good spots for ambushes, until I noticed the small penciled in line that represented the path we were probably to take. “Ma'am... is that it? That... that's hardly a path. Can we trust that prisoner?”

She nodded. “He was all too eager to surrender, and he is Redwings nephew the heir apparent to his estate. He stands to inherit quite a bit after the war if his uncle dies.” At my look, she rolled her eyes. “Different species, Corporal. Deal with it. Now, I need to know if you can make a three hundred yard shot through a window at night.”

I looked at her, thinking. It was doable, but it depended on a number of factors. Wind speed, elevation, phase of the moon for light (Or lack thereof, as there was too much cloud cover), and how much the laws of physics hated me on that evening. All in all, it would be hard but... “Yeah, I think so” I said.

“No, I need to KNOW if you can make that shot. It is three hundred yards from a small cliff overlooking his property. There will be guards down below, and you have only one chance to get him. This is our ONLY chance to disrupt his troops by cutting off the head.”

I nodded. “I can do it, Ma'am.”

She stared. “Well, okay then. What do you need? We have some aerial footage...” she said, pulling out some photographs, “...that I nicked from the command tent. Show me what you need.”

I looked over them. It was an overhead shot of an old manor with its grounds, gardens, and several good looking vantage points. I felt a tingle in my destiny mark, and stared. “Right here.... that cliff, that WOULD make a perfect shot. I need... hmm... if only we could get his room illuminated. See, that third floor window, is that his bedroom? It overlooks the gardens so......”

She nodded, eyebrows raised. “Good eyes. Yeah, our reports say that that is his room. North side, third floor. He and his wife sleep in there. No children, but there are a few civilian ground keepers. Now, here is the plan in full. Myself and all of you, including the lieutenant who is not present, are going to head down the path for the next two days to get to that manor. Under cover of dark, we are going to radio for a diversion. Two P-38 Fighters have been set aside for this mission, and they will strafe the grounds. Our psych report says that he is very family oriented, and will rush to his bedroom to check on his wife before he does anything else.”

Iron Hoof snorted. At her look, he said “Can we trust that intel? It ALSO said the beach would be an easy target, and we still lost Tap and Wave.”

She glared. “Watch it, private. Yes, I think we can trust this intel, because it was confirmed by the POW I told you about earlier. Now, the fighters get only one shot at this, because there is some Anti Aircraft guns in the area that will chase them off. The Thirty-Eights are quiet, so they will get one free pass, but then they have to leave so they don’t get shot down. That AA is also the reason we cannot just bomb it, and we need to confirm the kill before we can move on the other beach. We do this, or we keep sending wave after wave at the beach until we take it. We NEED Normaredy, and we need Prance if we want to move against Gryphany. Got it?”

I nodded, and everyone else gave a sign of affirmation. “Good, we head out in ten.”

42 Hours Later

It was raining. Actually, RAINING was too kind. It was pouring buckets, and had soaked through my pack, coat, undercoat, fur, and was seeping through pores in my skin into my internal organs, water logging me and making me feel fifty pounds heavier. That was the sucky thing about war, no one could manage weather above a battlezone, and it ended up being filled with spiteful wild clouds. Iron Hoof grumbled, and I said “Hey El Tee, you think we can find something to hide under till it stops raining?”

Butter Bar huffed and turned around. “WHERE? You see any roadside inns? Do you wanna go back to the camp, and let those poor sods drown on the beach? It is raining, it has been raining, it is going to KEEP raining until the rain is fucking done corporal! Now, if you DONT mind, I would like to keep walking through the rain in SILENCE. That means-” he said, before stopping, turning around with rifle raised. “FLASH!” he called.

The rest of us raised rifles, before Major Leaf walked out, drenched. “Thunder. The manor is just up the road. And would you mind keeping it down, lieutenant? We get off the path here and you lot have such loud mouths I don’t see how the featherheads haven’t found us yet.”

The rest of us settled into gloomy silence as we stepped off the muddy road. For the last two days, we had been trudging along this muck that used to be an ancient logging road, long since fallen into disuse amongst the gryphons. The path to Redwing Manor was through a bit of heavy jungle, and from this point we ran a slight risk of detection from random civilians. Up ahead, there was the overlooking bluff that gave a vantage point on the property. I pointed up at it. “Major, is that our objective?”

She nodded and we trecked into the brush. The wet branches did nothing to add to the amount of water already on all of us, although Iron Hoof grunted when a branch whacked him in the throat. Orange Blaze, held a branch for me and I clambered over it, smiling. “Thanks. Major, I need to get all the way to the top and have a look at the area. When will the fighters get here?”

She said “Haven't been called yet. They SHOULD be in the air by now, waiting for my radio call. Once we give that, they have a pre-arranged strafing run. We get up to that bluff, I will get on the radio. Lets move!”

A chorus of “Yes Ma'am!”s later, we plunged through the low brush with vigor. Iron Hoof moved up front to help clear some of the branches, while Bubbles took up the rear. After a moment, the ground sloped uphill steeply, and we were forced to grab thin trees and the like to pull ourselves up a thirty five or forty degree slope. The ground was wet and the dense leaves allowed our feet to sink a few inches down in places. Twice I had to put an arm out to help Blaze avoid falling backwards. We all made what was, in my opinion, far too much noise.

Still, a ten minute careful crawl up the hill later, we had alerted no one, and the trees cleared away up ahead. Major Leaf held up a closed fist, and we all stood still while Butter Bar and Shadow Step moved forward quietly. I watched as they went out, looking carefully around. Finally, the motioned with their hands for us to move forward. I stepped out, glancing down the cliff side towards the manor nearly three stadium-lengths away from here. Cripes, that was a long shot! And it was freaking dark except for some of the ground lights.

As I set down the rifle, Orange Blaze pulled out a tarp and put it down on the ground, before Iron Hoof pulled out another and propped it up, making a little shelter for me. I looked up and grinned, a warm sense of elation at the support of my squad. “Thanks guys! Ma'am, while I set this up can you call them in?”

She nodded and began to rig up a ground antenna, a long spool of wire that she and Iron Hoof began to spread around in a coil. Hooking it up to a large backpack radio that she had been lugging for the past two days, a flash of lightning illuminated the grounds. The major was a four story deal in some parts, with three fancy towers of the Victailian-era styles. The grounds below us on the north side of the tower (South to us, my mind noted), were filled with a beautiful garden. Another flash showed the fountain and the lack of anyone down there. I looked down at my task at hand, carefully dialing in the scope for three hundred yards, and then taking it out another ten yards just in case. As it was at night, I wish I had a cloth to put over the end to hide the muzzle flash, but if I got lucky I could time it with a crash of thunder to at least hide the noise. Besides, what was one more bright light on a thundery night? Finally, I was done and looked over at the major. “I got it, ma'am. Ready to take the shot when needed.”

She lifted the mouthpiece of the radio. “Overwatch, overwatch, this is Strike One, do you copy? We are in position and are ready for your attack?”

A few moments passed, and she repeated her statement. “Copy? Anyone there? Overwatch, overwatch, this is Strike One. Do you read me?”

As before, a few tense moments passed before the radio crackled. “Strike one, this is Overwatch. We are heading in for our attack run. Be advised that weather is not very good, flight conditions are unstable. Estimated Time to Arrival: Five minutes. Hold tight, Strike One.”

She grinned and we hunkered down. Time passed in silence, and when Bubbles went to light up a cigar, he got a stern look from Butter Bar and sighed, putting it back in his pocket. “I hate the fecking rain.”

Finally, there was the sound of what seemed at first to be thunder, but my ears resolved it to AA fire, and the buzzing of two P-38 fighters. The sound got louder and louder, and before long, two dark shapes buzzed VERY low, and the harsh sounds of twenty millimeter rounds impacting the round was sweet music to our ears. The rounds dug four deep furrows into the ground and ripped into the west and south wings of the manor, and even through all of the noise I could hear a distant scream.

The feeling of a plan coming to fruition was amazing. A warm bubbly feeling, tempered only slightly by the realization that this plan involved murdering someone. He had no real chance to kill me, but I would get a single clean shot at him. The new ten-times zoom scope I had would make it seem like I was in the room with him, able to pick out every feather on his head. As the planes peeled away, one of them was struck by fire and shuddered. A moment later though, the pilot stabilized and the plane followed its brother off back the way they came. Meanwhile, the manor below was coming to life. Lights flickered on, guards came outside, and there was faint movement in the bedroom that I was watching.

“Corporal, take the shot whenever you think you have it! Do NOT miss! If you cant hit him from here, we need to go down there!”

I lay prone, the rifle propped up on a small rock, rain dripping off the end as I squinted at the room. The light came on, and I saw a gryphon in the room. Two of them... one large one, with red wings, and the other a bit smaller, who was getting out of bed. As I adjusted my aim, the larger one grabbed the smaller one in an embrace and pointed at the door. My shot was blocked by her, however.

“Ma'am, the civilian, I think it is his wife, is between me and him. I don’t have a clear shot” I said, my heart beating quickly. “I cant get him!”

“Corporal, will that shot go through her and still kill him?” she demanded. I hesitated, and she said “TAKE THE SHOT!”

Time slowed to a crawl. She was a civilian! This wouldn’t be collateral damage, this would be murder! I adjusted the crosshairs, trying to center his head, but at this range there was a five inch spread. I had to aim for the chest... and they wre overlapping. In a moment, they would be heading for the door...

“Ma'am, I-” I started, but the major glared. “Take the shot, corporal. One life versus thousands, take the shot NOW! That's an order!”

Gulping, I centered the crossairs and let my breath out. My finger squeezed the trigger gently, and the rifle kicked against my shoulder. A few ounces of lead left the barrel faster than even a Pegasus' eyes could follow, and sped down the length of three football fields. It had enough momentum to punch through nearly ten inches of flesh and bone, and the hole it would leave was big enough to look through in some cases.

To a soldier, this bullet was something to expect on a battlefield. We trained to be ready for it, and although it wasn’t much training, we all knew that one day we would be dead with one of these through something important. We accepted this with our usual ill grace, and we had to be at peace with that.

To a civvilian, this bullet was unexpected. You might realize you were in danger, but this was not part of the job. You should be able to go home at the end of each day, knowing that you would not have to suffer the wrath of this round impacting your squishy bits.

That bullet tore a hole through first his wife, and then him. Redwing and his wife collapsed to the ground very quickly, and I could see them on the floor. They were thrashing about, and I cycled the bolt, sending three more shots into them before standing up, feeling numb inside. Just before I shot, I could have sworn that she had looked right at me, that white gryphoness...

“Alright, move! We gotta go in case they heard that!” said Major Wing. We all made fast tracks down that hill, in the wet and the dark, while the gryphoness bled to death next to her slain husband on the floor of a manor, two more casualties in a war that already had thousands. No one would miss them, no one would mourn them any more than others would be mourned. Yet I instincivly knew that either I would grow numb to this, or I would one day break.

I refused to become numb. I hoped that I might find refuge in insanity.

Chapter 8: War is Hell

To: Corporal Steel Wing

From: Home, Equestria Dispatch Office

RE: Mail

Dear Son,

I am so glad to hear from you and that you like the revolver! When Rainy Days told me that they all pitched in, I had to ask the Military office if it was okay to send to you. The kind sergeant lieutenant there was so nice, and said that he would be happy to ensure it got to you. I am glad to hear that you and your friend Blaze are doing okay. I never asked your father much about his military career, so I don’t know much about it. However, you should, after the war is over, ask if that Maple Leaf person wants to come over for tea sometime. I am sure we can get her a pair of cloudwalking boots.

Anyways, while I am sick with worry most days, the money you are sending home is doing wonders here. I managed to get some things fixed around the house, and with your pay, I am managing to set aside nearly two hundred bits a month into your savings. A nice fellow, Mister Silver Tongue, working with Equestrian Royal Bank, is making sure your money is well invested!

I had to quit one of my night shifts, so now I am only running thirty five hours a week instead of sixty, but between your pay and mine, everything around here is so much better. I feel a bit guilty sometimes using your hard earned money, but.... Azure Skies told me that it would be more selfish if I didn’t. You are so like your father sometimes.... you both look out for poor old me. Anyways, I am at the paper limit... there is a bit of an unofficial war ration going on, so I gotta keep things breif. Take care!”

Your loving mother,

Blue Cross.

PS The hospital is a bit empty with everyone leaving... try to finish your job quickly?

I sighed, leaning back on top of the tank. The M4 Shermanes were amazing for long roat comfort... as long as you were not on bumpy roads. We were on our way to Saint Feathersburg, the gryphon town that was at a major road intersection. Taking it would allow us to move armor deep into occupied prance, and the town was only twenty miles from the Prench-Gryphic Border. All in all, it was THE place to be, and we had five companies moving on it. Second Armored (Whos chassiss I was more than happy to hitch a ride on), Seventh and Eight Regiments of First Infantry, and elements from the One hundred and First Airborne, the Nineteenth Artillery, and the Seventeenth Heavy Infantry made up the last two companies. Lieutenant General Clever Thinker (Rumored to be a descendant of Clover the Clever AND Smart Cookie) was in command, with Major Maple Leaf serving as his second in command. She was currently fuming more than the tanks at having to be in the back of the formation with the general.

“Hey... Blaze... you ever wonder why we are here?” I asked, sitting up and tucking my letter into my left breast pocket. She stretched, yawned, and sat up, rubbing her eyes under the sunlight. Today was a rare warm fall day, although winter snows would soon set in.

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t. I know EXACTLY why we are here.”

I looked over, startled. She had answered a clearly rhetorical question. That was odd for her. “Um... okay? Do tell?”

From between us, the horned head poking out of the tank hatch looked at her. “Yes, corporal, please do tell.”

She swatted his ears, and then looked at me, annoyed. “Well, I was THERE, at home, minding my own damn business. All by myself, watching TV, and reading filthy magazines as a lonely mare is wont to do.”

The tank operator turned bright red, and I facepalmed. “Blaze... don’t give the operator a heart attack. All the other tanks are full, and I have this one warmed to butt temperature.”

She giggled and patted him on the head. “Well, there I were, all by myself, when suddenly, this PLOTHOLE named Bristlebeak decides that he wants everything, everywhere. So he starts conquering country after country, taking over, and generally being an arse. No offense” she said over her shoulder to a braytish trooper on the back. He raised a mug with a shrug. “So, now I am here. Any questions?”

The operator raised his hand. “I got one. Mind getting your tail out of the viewing slit?”

“What? Oh, sure. Sorry.” she said, moving a bit. I looked forward down the two mile long line. Soldiers, jeeps, and six mobile artillery units on the back of heavy trucks plodded along ahead of us. I knew, even though I couldn’t see them, that unicorn minesweepers were up ahead of the formation making sure there were no nasty surprises, although gryphon mystics had learned to conceal them from detection. We still had old fashioned detectors, but they were slow. Ah, technology. Why do we only create you for the purpose of killing each other?

Nearly thirty M4 Shermane Medium Tanks were in this formation, and we had six mobile 102mm artillery pieces that only took about five minutes to set up for basic firing, although they could be deployed for greater accuracy in nearly ten minutes. Each had a ten man crew, and they dropped quite a bit of bad news on their intended target. They were all a rowdy bunch, and rock solid under fire, or so I had heard about them. The really scary guys, though, were the One Oh One Airborne. A mix of crack Pegasi and unicorns with a few earth pony heavies, they were nearly insane, jumping into danger with no thought for life or limb, and tended to bring ALOT of pain with them wherever they went. The commander of the company they sent, Captain Solid Ball, was a total plothole and a shitty soldier in my opinion. His First Lieutenant, Winter Striker, was more than enough to make up for him though. Rumor had it that he and his folks had dropped all over normaredy like sticks in the wind, and had removed some artillery that threataned to paste us all up and down the beaches. Pity they couldn’t have hit Redwing Manor though... the squad they sent to do that got wiped.

I looked down at my rifle. I could still see my scope, and that gryphoness civilian in my crosshairs, and then her on the ground... the blood was everywhere. It was like I was in the room for an instant, watching as her chest exploded outwards. Major Leaf giving the order for me to fire, even though I didn’t have a clear shot... the order to murder a civilian in cold blood. A part of my mind, the rational one, said that it was war, civilians died, and her life bought fifteen thousand more and avenged fifteen thousand already dead. The Equine part of my mind, however, refused to look me in the face after that. It was the tactically and strategically correct decision, but... it was NOT the morally correct one. I should have flown down... I dunno. Broken through the window, taken him out in single combat? The way those old Jam Wave movies went? Mono a Mono.... Hand to Claw... I should have....

“Hey... Wing, you not still thinking about Redwing Manor are you?”

Blaze's voice stole through my thoughts, and they dissipated like fog as I looked up at her, and managed a grin. “Naw, I told you and the major I'm over it. Stuff happens, and for being married to a prick like him she probably deserved it. Besides, they cost us a few thousand dollars for that airplane, and that poor pilot.”

She grunted, and started to reply when we both nearly fell off of the tank as it lurched to a halt. Cursing, I sat back up. “What gives?” I said to the tank driver. He shrugged. “Column stopped. Tank in front don’t move, I don’t move. How about you go check it out?” he said.

I looked at blaze and shrugged. “Lets go” I stated, and hopped down. As my boots hit the ground, Major Leaf came storming forward. “Whats the holdup?” she said, and I shrugged.

“No idea, ma'am. Blaze and me were gonna go check it out. Wanna come? There might be free ice cream?”

Blaze swatted me, and Leaf looked murderous. “Can it, Corporal. Come on.”

The three of us, joined shortly by Bubbles, Shadow, Butter Bar, and Iron Hoof headed forward. It was a mile and a half to get to the front of the column, as we were all spread out here in the back. Soon enough though, with everyone compressing forward, we arrived at the front to see Captain Solid Ball looking through binoculars at the town wall in the distance. Major Leaf stepped forward while Bubbles lit a cigar. “Whats going on, Captain?”

He looked at her and handed her the binoculars. After a few moments, her face broke out in a grin. “Well no shit. Corporal, take a look!” she said, handing me the binoculars. Taking them, I gazed upon a beautiful sight: A large white flag raised over the open front gate of the town, and a Gryphon officer or soldier waving a smaller one outside with a line of troops behind him, claws symbolically raised. None of them seemed to have weapons.

“COLUMN! FORWARD! GET MOVING!” bellowed Maple Leaf, and we began to move again, the other mile to the town looking rather free and clear.

“Hey, Blaze, guess they heard we were coming huh? All this way, and they want to just give us the town. Guess the squawkers don’t give a damn about winning anymore. Toldja they just wanna go home!” I said, grinning. Blaze elbowed me.

“Dont gloat, it is ill becoming of you. Hey Major, do you think when we get into town we can get that ice cream?”

Major Leaf looked over. “What is it with you grunts and your damn ice cream? I swear-” she started, when everything went very pear shaped.

There was a THUMP, followed by the world slowing down. As if in a bad film, I turned to see the twenty men behind us, including Captain Solid Ball, vanish in a cloud of smoke and dirt and fire. Six more thumps down the line destroyed over what HAD to be fifty more people, before Major Leaf sprang into action.

“MOVE MOVE MOVE! GET OFF THE ROAD!” she screamed.

To me, things happened both very quickly and very slowly. I grabbed Blaze and pushed both of us off the left side of the road just as a hot hand slapped me across the back, pitching me forward on top of her. There was a sharp pain across my left shoulder, and we both went tumbling as a tank was blown to the side, teetering on the edge of the road before turning over and rolling twice down the steep embankment towards a river, where it sat upside down, the crew doomed to either cook or drown. Dirt fell over both of us as I grabbed my helmet.

Where the HELL is... the damn city! Those- “BASTARDS!” I screamed, sitting up. Major Leaf had everyone moving to the right side of the road into the brush as more shells fell around us. She was less than five feet from me, and looking down the line. Everyone was staring in shock. We had seen the white flag, there wasn’t supposed to be any fire!

“Infantry, advance! Get to that wall, storm the city! We gotta take out those guns to get the armor in!” she screamed, waving troopers forward. For once, people agreed. Anything was better than sitting in the dirt, waiting for a bomb to drop on you or a shell to take off your soft bits. As I started to get up, she grabbed my arm. “Not you guys! You stay with me!”

I nodded, sitting back down next to her. All around us, troopers streamed down the road, still out of range of their fire. We were about three quarters of a mile from it, and the shelling had stopped for the time being. All of us held our breaths as over six hundred troopers ran down the road, and advanced through the brush to the right side of it.

They didn’t make it more than half the distance before the first landmine went off. We couldn't do anything but look on in horror as mares and stallions were thrown around like rag dolls, the screams from the distance the lamentations of the dying. The gryphons seemed to have a way of activating and deactivating a minefield, as when they started to retreat, more mines they had passed over began to go off. Sniper fire picked off the rest, and less than twenty returned to us a minute later. We pulled back half a mile and deployed some of our heavy artillery, and shelled them for the next sixteen hours straight with our six mobile guns and two heavy stationary pieces on loan from the Royal Marines. Not one of us said a word as we watched the night fall, and the city burn.

0400, D+9

A jab in my ribs woke me up from my light doze. Shells had stopped falling in both directions, with the Gryphons having given up their fight nearly six hours ago. The dry crust at the corners of my eyes told me I had not been asleep anywhere near long enough, and the salt encrusting my muzzle told me that I had cried in my sleep again. Blaze loomed over me. “Heads up Corporal... Minesweepers have cleared the fields ahead of us, and not one of them got shot at even when they were only a hundred yards from the wall. I think we killed most of them... the white flag went back up, but no one cares about that. Word is about seven hundred dead, about double wounded from the shellings. Major Leaf told me to wake you up, we're heading in. Second Armored is leading the way.”

I nodded, pulling myself up. Stretching out my wings, I yawned and looked through the dark towards St. Feathersburg. Flares being shot overhead clearly illuminated what Luna's full moon did not. General Clever Thinker was up front with Major Leaf as we walked up. I nodded, unwilling to salute on the battle field, and Lieutenant Butter Bar nodded back before turning to the two senior officers. “Okay, here is what I want. Butter Bar, I am running a severe shortage of officers. Their shells zeroed us in, so for now I am giving you operational command of three tanks and their supporting troops. Major Leaf, you stay out here with me to pass orders along. Corporal Wing, Corporal Blaze, and the rest of Nineth, I know you usually get to play grabass with the major, but I need you all in the front. You are the most experienced scout unit, even if two missions isn’t saying much, but we need our best in front. I want to know if they are surrendering this time. We saw five of them waving white flags an hour ago, but then again, they did that sixteen hours ago as well. So get in there and find out if they mean it.”

I nodded, and so did Butter Bar. Turning around, he shouted “Roll out! Wardaddy, Troublemaker, and Housewrecker, get going! Rest of Seventeenth, get a move on! Major, sorry about this” he said, the last bit to her as we followed him. She glowered, but nodded. I looked back at her, before jogging back a bit. “Ma'am, mind if we swap weapons? I wont need a sniper rifle in there on the ground. That tommy gun might work better...” I said, a bit nervous. Still, I wasn’t about to ask a GENERAL for HIS weapon. She nodded, and the trade was done.

I jogged a bit to catch up, and Bubbles snorted. “Got balls much, Corporal? Asking a Major for her weapon... if I was a major and you did that...” he started, before I cut in. “Sarge, if YOU was a major, we would all be in the deep pucky.”

Butter Bar snorted at that, turning and grinning. “Sorry Staff, I gotta agree with the corporal there. Still, I wouldn’t make a habit of it, Wing. You and Blaze get off easy, but being a senior officers pet will only get you so far. Me, I had to EARN my comission the hard way. And then I gotta keep grunts like you in line all bucking day...”

Shadow Step snickered. “Yeah, and then batponies like me gotta listen to you all gripe. Hey, LT, think we can shoot them if they surrender? I mean, they already kinda broke the rules so...”

He shook his head. “Naw, if they mean it this time it means we get to try them for war crimes. THEN we shoot them, up against a nice wall... you know, blindfolds and all.”

With that cheery thought in mind, we all went quiet, following the lead tank into town. What we saw there took my breath away. Sixteen hours and over five hundred shells dropped, the town was RUINED. Bits of the wall were blasted apart, and houses all over looked as if a dragon had torn its way through here. Bodies however... were scarce. Two minutes of looking around and there was no sign of the people that surrendered, or the guns...

“Hey... Lieutenant...” I started. “Where do you think they all... oh sweet Celestia...” I said. My first thought as we walked into town square was What the hay is this... followed by those monsters...

In the center of town, chained to stakes were hundreds of civilians. Males, Females, foals, all of them blown to bloody shreds. Off to one side was the burnt out wreck of a Gryphon Mobile Artillery Unit, deployed, and the tracks of six others. A few dead soldiers littered the scene around them, but the bodies were everywhere. A wave of nausea overtook me, and I doubled over, retching. My helmet fell off and bounced away as I emptied my stomach of the K-Rations that had been my supper, and the lieutenant turned a sickly shade of green. A tree in the center of town had bodies nailed to it, one of whom fell off as we watched. A few here and there were still moving slowly, and medics rushed forward to check it out. The realization hit us all as the conclusion sank in. We had spent sixteen hours zeroed in on the position of most of the civilians in the town. We had killed them all.

I finally recovered and stared at the pile of bodies. One foal looked up at me, and I slowly got up, walking forward towards it. It turned its head, and I saw the left side peeled and black, the fur crisped all along its left flank as the child moaned feebly at me, collapsing.

“Bastards... bloody bastards...” muttered the Lieutenant. “Wing... Go back and... tell the major... tell the major what happened. Looks like they stationed one mobile battery batallion here.... hit us a few times then pulled out. Probably right after we launched out first barrage. Tell her... shit. Tell her what is here.”

I stared at the pile, before he grabbed my shoulder. “Corporal! That's an order!” he barked, and I found myself nodding. “Yes sir...” I said, raising my hand in a salute.

Thinking back, no matter how much my mind had been frazzled by the grotesque scene, I was a sniper. I had been taught what to look for as a sniper, I had been told what to expect enemy snipers to do, and I had been told more than enough to have known, even in this situation, that saluting an officer in a hotzone is a way to paint a target on them and everyone around them. A loud snap sound echoed from a belltower, and the Lieutenant's scowl turned into an expression of surprise as a red hole appeared in his neck, and Shadow Step swore, grabbing her leg as she fell.

I looked up at the tower, and yelled “SNIPER! GET DOWN!”, all thoughts of the bodies gone as I grabbed one of the Lieutenant's straps, and Blaze grabbed another. We dragged him back away from the street into an alley while he thrashed, holding his neck. Blood spurted from his wound, and I looked across the alley at Shining Silk. “MEDIC!” I yelled, and she nodded, ducking out and running, making sure her helmet was turned towards the tower to show off the red cross marking her as a medic.

She didn’t make it ten steps before a round tore through her helmet, her eyes going vacant in a heartbeat, and her arms flopping as she went down. The battlefield went silent for a moment, until a second round tore through her chest, and a third through her belly. Blaze kept pressure on Butter Bar's neck wound, and everyone else screamed bloody murder as we all opened fire on the bell tower. Two more shots rang out, dropping troopers with lethal accuracy before Sergeant Bubbles yelled “EVERYONE IN COVER! TAKE COVER AND LET THE TANKS HIT HIM!”

We all nodded, and I knelt over Butter Bar, who's face was getting very pale. One more trooper fell, a round going through a window to pierce the left side of his chest, before it got quiet. Then the unseen sniper fired a fourth round through Shimmer Silk's chest, and a fifth just above her ground. The sound of manic laughter rang through the air.

“Fucking BASTARD!” yelled one trooper, a sergeant from the Second Armored. Another one was on the radio, trying to call in a strike, before the first tank rolled around the corner. There was a slight plink, and a round ricochet off of the area right next to the viewing slit before the turret roteated, the barrel elevating to look at the tower.

The bang it made was among the most beautiful sounds I had ever heard, and the sight of the church bell tower crumbling, a single feathered body tumbling down, was the only good sight of these two days that I would recall.

A day later, I stood next to Orange Blaze and Maple Leaf on the wall of the city. Major Leaf puffed on a cigar, while Blaze smoked a cigarette. Looking down over the broken city, Major Leaf shook her head. “Everyone screws up, Corporal. Nobody blames you. Hell, Shadow is laughing that she gets to go home, and the Lieutenant is gonna be alright. Same with shadow, she's gonna be fine. Just... don’t salute me, okay?”

I looked down, tears down the side of my face. Blaze stared stoicly at the carnage, and the open graves that the dead were being put into quietly. The town was deserted. Finally, she said “Damn. Hope we don’t run into more of this, if I see this again I am tossing in my gun and going home. Pushing Gryphany forced them into this.... Major, what are we gonna do from here?”

The major sighed. “Probably keep pressing them. Celestia wants us home by Hearth's Warming Eve, and I want to get back just as much as the rest of you. Looking at this, though.... I dunno. It could easily happen, our troops are fresh and motivated... a bit less after this, but still. I bet other countries ain’t gonna like this. War is Hell, ain’t it Wing?”

I stared, and a few minutes passed. “With all due respect... No, Ma'am. War is NOT hell.”

She blinked and looked at me. “What?”

I closed my eyes, the faces of the dead civilians and that foal staring back at me. “In hell, only the guilty suffer. I saw a lot of innocent here today” I said, and turned around, wanting to get back to what was left of my squad.

War was worse than hell.

The goal of capturing St. Feathersburg was simple: March around five thousand soldiers and tanks into the town, steamroll the garrison of less than fifty, and seize an important town before it can be reinforced. Elements of the Gryphon 22nd Armored and 54th Kreigzskratch Grenadiers were to enter the town and hold it against Equestrian advances. On D+10, it was expected to have no more than a small holding garrison, most of the units having previously gone to fight on the beaches or the surrounding areas where the 101st had dropped and were causing havoc. No civillians were expected to be in the town at this time.

However, anticipating both the Equestrian beach victories and possibly his own assassination, General Redwing had ordered the 5th Mobile Artillery Battery to hold position and keep Equestria and her allies from taking the town without heavy losses. Against his orders, however, the Special Forces commander in charge, Colonel Razorbeak, ordered his soldiers to round up the civilians in town and put them next to their mobile artillery. The plan, he later admitted at his war trial, was to fire a few shots and retreat, knowing that firing while under a white flag would result in them shelling the area non-stop and without mercy for hours on end. By ensuring that the civilians were still in town, and by chaining them up in the area of fire, he calculated that when the equestrian soldiers marched in, they would be thoroughly demoralized. As further insurance, he left behind a sniper with orders to take any chance to further take down morale. Although the town was a priceless strategic victory at this stage, the price ended up being very high. Many Equestrian soldiers lost hope of this war, realizing that if the gryphons would go to this length to win, they would have very chance of doing so.

Lieutenant Butter Bar survived his injuries by no small miracle, and was sent home with a Silver Star for his troubles. The bullet grazed his spine and left him, by all odds, paralyzed in the feet alone. Doctors shrugged it off as an oddity, but he enjoyed going back to being a teacher and lived after the war in peace and comfort, an instructor at Northpoint Military Academy, teaching basic strategy. He held no hard feelings against Steel Wing, often remarking in light tones that if it wasn’t for military protocol being so drilled into recruits, he would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere in Gryphany.

Shadow Step lost the use of her right leg following the battle, but like Butter Bar, she held no lasting feelings of anger. Returning home to the Shadow Planes, she practiced night flying and the art of creating explosives from scratch, much the same as she did before the war. Not much if known of her later life, other than she ended up having a family.

The deliberate targeting of a combat medic and the slaughter of civilians shocked other nations, leading to a cry of outrage at Gryphany's crimes. Neighpan formally dissolved their alliance with the “Honorless Scourge”, and although they continued to fight Equestria, they refused to aid Gryphany with their navy. Queen Chrysalis publicly refused to continue talks of entering the war on the side of Gryphany, remarking, quote, “This goes much to far. There is obviously no love to be found in their empire. If he would treat civilians like that, and so blatantly ignore the rules of engagement... we cannot trust him. The Hive stands alone.”

The Battle for Saint Feathersburg, although one of the least expensive in terms of material and people, proved to be a blow to Equestrian Morale, and a VERY costly defeat for Gryphany. Bristlebeak stood alone after this, facing dissension within his own ranks.

Chapter 9 (Alot of dark angst, plus a magician)

D+78

Dear Mom,

I don’t know how much more of this I can take. My entire company, or what is left of it, has been stationed in Saint Feathersburg for the past few months. It is getting very cold here, but once the... mess... was cleaned up after our attack, and the builders got out here, the place turned a bit nicer. We have plumbing, at least. Many Gryphon and Pony civilians have come back to this town, the once that weren’t here during the attack. It is a bit odd, seeing Gryphons and Ponyfolk living here side by side. I guess it is easy to forget that Prance is populated by both. Anyways, it looks like this “Great War” is going to be a bit short. Princess Luna promised that once we have finished up here, all of us get to go home, and we are all placing bets on how long until someone assassinates Bristlebeak. Most of his people do not like him anymore, and many clan chiefs seek to restore their honor after the Feathersburg Slaughter. It is strange... we shelled the city, we killed them, but no one is mad at us.

I heart that Lieutenant Butter Bar is going to be okay, they are shipping him and Shadow Step back home. I guess now it is just Me, Bubbles, Blaze, Hoof, and the Major left in my squad. They are giving me and everyone else here a medal for gallantry. I just wanna go home.

Anyways, we are still rounding up prisoners sometimes, but things are getting quiet here on the western front. I love you very much, and tell Azure Skies that I will be home by Hearth's Warming Eve. I promise. And I WILL come back.

With love,

Corporal Steel Wing.

I sat in my seat, staring up at the stage. Blaze leaned over at me. “Hey wing.... didja like the last lady on the stage?” she whispered, grinning. I groaned and shoved her lightly. “Shaddup, the show is gonna start soon” I replied.

She chortled and sat back. Although it was frigid out, we had all gathered outside in our winter coats around small fires or huddled together in groups in front of the recently constructed stage. Word was that some showmare was going to be here to entertain us. Morale was in the tanks, and the recent show by Sapphire Shores and her group had gone over very well among us enlisted males. Her rendition of “Heartbreaker, Lifetaker” had been truly inspiring, but was dampened when Prince Blueblood, Celestias plothole of a nephew, had given a drawling speech about how he thought that only nobles should be allowed to be officers. Colonel Straight Razor had politely excused him from the stage and gotten him on the next flight out.

The lights dimmed, and music began to play softly. “Fillies and Gentlecolts....” started a feminine voice. “For neigh on a thousand years, ponies have waited and watched for the one that was truly the most powerful... yes, the greatest showpony around. And although many try to deny it.... none can stand against....” the voice trailed, before the lights flashed brightly, and a puff of smoke revealed a blue unicorn in a starry cape and hat with a wand.

“The GRRRRREAT AND POWERFUL TRRRRRIXIEEEE!”

She gave a bow as trumpets blared, and with a wave of her wand and a flash of her horn, the curtains opened behind her, illuminating a screen that was backlit, shadows playing across it to narrate her story.

“Yes, the Great and Powerful Trixie is here to wow you, to astound you, with an array of magical arts the likes of which you have NEVER seen before! For Trixie, who is indeed myself, has magic of the HIGHEST LEVEL!”

Behind her, shadows moved to show a lone pony walking across a featureless track. “For years, she wandered by herself, braving perils great and small. She walked from town to town as a mere filly, aiding the weak and serving the powerful, learning her arcane arts. Finally, she came upon the Great City of Canterlot, where Princess Celestia herself accepted her into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, through one of her aids. There, the Great and Powerful Trixie both learned and taught the fine art of illusion!”

The images behind her faded with the shadow that was supposed to be her vanishing, looming over a crowd. The screen went up and she vanished, reappearing a few feet away, on the front of the stage. “Now, with all of you suitably awed, I shall pick one at random from the audience to take part in my next trick! You will love it!” she said, smiling.

The whole time she ranted, many of us were rolling our eyes at how over the top she was. Her tricks were nice, but a few puffs of smoke were nothing compared to what we could see if we nicked a few pounds of Comp B from the armory, or a couple kegs of TNT. Blaze looked at me before I finally sighed. Screw this.

“Hey! Thats EXACTLY what the draft officer said! Now I'm over here!” I said sarcastically as I stood up. This was greeted with a roar of laughter as I took a mock bow and sat back down, grinning at Blaze. She smiled back and fist bumped me. “Nice.”

Trixie... Excuse me, the Great and Powerful Trixie, sputtered with indignation. Finally, she smoothed her robe. “The Great and Powerful Trixie sees that her talents are wasted on lesser minds. Fine! She shall be off then!” she said, turning around... only to flinch as a distant explosion went off. Most of us didn’t even pay attention as we got up, chatting.

“Hey, Wing, you wanna get some grub at the mess?” asked Blaze as we moved out of the entertainment area. I nodded at her. “Sure thing. What are you gonna get, the gray stuff or the green stuff?”

She snorted as we walked through the broken buildings and busted vehicles, passing a tank who's engine was still burning. Wandering through the rubble, I looked at a tree stump that until yesterday had been a bloody tree, stained with civilians who had been nailed to it. A moment later, I was on my hands and knees, trying to heave my guts out as a wave of sickness came over me. All of a sudden, I could not stop sobbing, seeing Silk staring at us, that expression of surprise etched forever on her face as a round blasted through one side of her helmet and out the other. A gurgle came out of my throat to join the vomit on the ground, and around us a few stopped to look as Blaze leaned over me.

I didn’t hear what she said as I sat up a bit, looking at my shaking hands. It was all a game, wasn’t it? It was all a game, and we had already won but we were still dying. What the hell was I even DOING here? I wanted home all of the sudden, more badly than I had in the last three months. I wanted nothing more than to curl up on my bed and cry my eyes out, and forget this whole bucking-

“Wing! Snap out of it!” came Blaze's voice. “Come on, people are staring! Get a grip!” she said, grabbing my chin and pulling it up to look at her and she stared into my eyes. “Look... come on. Lets go see the doc. You in there?” She said, taking my hand.

I pulled it away and stared at her. Slowly, I managed to get my mind under control, taking deep shuddering breaths as I forced my mind back into reality. NO! I would NOT flip out and get taken off the line. I would NOT leave my friends. I shook my head. “No... no Doctors. I'm... I’m fine. Just got dizzy for a minute, just tired...” I said, gulping. For a minute, she stared, before nodding.

“Alright. Lets just get some food...” she said, pulling me to my feet. We headed off to the mess hall, milling around with a couple hundred other ponyfolk, before finding a quiet spot in a corner to sit. As I ate, I kept stealing glances at her, noticing her doing the same. A few minutes later, I signed, putting down my fork. “What?” I asked.

She looked up again. “Nothing! I'm just worried!” she said, sounding a bit hurt.

I glared. “Worried about what? That I'm gonna salute you? That I will wave you out of cover? I know that everyone still talks about it!” I said, anger welling up inside me. I KNEW she still had a grudge against me, I knew they all still did!

THAT line of though was cut off with a slap as she stared at me. “NOPONY blames you wing! It was a mistake, one that others have made too! Chances are, he was gonna get shot anyways!” she said, looking through red eyes.

I have no idea what happened next, but a moment later I was on my feet, wings slightly out, stiff legged in the “Feeling Threatened” stance of the Pegasi. Grabbing my food, I headed out of the hall, suddenly just wanting to be away from everyone. They all stared at me, and I could hear whispers as I passed. I knew they were talking, muttering about me. There was a clatter at my feet as warm liquid spread over them, and I looked down to see that the shuddering of my tray from my hands had knocked my mug of cider off, and I cursed as I dropped the tray and finally ran out. Air, I needed air!

I sprinted out of the mess hall into the snow falling outside. Spreading my wings, I jumped into the air, flapping as hard as I could as I heard Blaze yelling after me, calling my name. For once, I ignored her as I rose into the air quickly, flying out of her sight into the city. A few other airborn messengers looked at me oddly but I angled for an area I knew would be nearly empty, a large storage house that held mostly sauerkraut in barrels that no one wanted to eat. It was large and had plenty of dark areas in it for hiding.

I crashed to the ground, rolling twice before getting up and staggering to the door, heart pounding. There was no one around, not even a guard, and I thanked Celestia for small miracles as I leaned into the door, pushing it open. The interior was nearly as cold as it was outside, but without snow falling in small flurries all over the place. Large crates stacked nearly to the ceiling, although most of the barrels of pickles had been ransacked a week ago.

I walked along the crates in a fevered daze, the lines around me blurred as I felt warm all of a sudden. Celestia, my hands would not stop shaking! I held them tightly to my chest as I finally collapsed next to a crate, curling up and squeezing my eyes shut. There was a tight seizing in my chest and I lay there, sobbing, images of the beach and the town running behind my eyelids. The look on the face of that burned foal, Radio Wave laying with a grin in the dirt, the back of his head gone. The smell of sulfur in the air as the big guns unknowingly shelled civilians. The single burning WESPE that was our only trophy.

And Silk Shimmer, laying in the mud, rounds entering her lifeless body as a sniper taunted us.

I cried my eyes red, alone and in the dark of the warehouse as the winds outside howled their anguish in time with my own.

It was dark when a hand on my shoulder woke me up. I kept my eyes closed before a soft female voice said “Corporal... come on, get up. You okay in there?”

I finally opened my eyes and sat up, blank faced. In the gloom was the green Major Leaf, squatting next to me. I just leaned back against the crate, looking at her, cradling my rifle in my lap.

“Corporal... Blaze told me what happened. Right now, I am not talking to you as your commanding officer. I am talking to you as your friend. What's wrong?” she asked, eyes peering at me through the gloom.

What WAS wrong with me? I wasn’t acting like a soldier, I was acting like a scared foal. I was trained as a soldier, I was armed like one, and everyone around me was just fine. Even Blaze had been through the same things as me and yet she was fine! And I was the one with a Destiny Mark for war! Was that all I was? Medals and Scars? Is THAT what I wanted to go home as some day?

“My mark is a Rifle, a Knife, and crosshairs, Major. I got my mark as a sniper. My mark is for killing people, and I am really good at it, but now I can't even look at it. Why'd I get that for a mark?” I said, fresh tears streaming down my face. I heard her swear softly.

“Corporal, what you get as a mark isn't your choice. You didn’t choose to be good at killing, you just... damn, there is no easy way to say it...” she said, sitting next to me. “You just have a knack for it, and it has saved a few lives already.”

Contempt welled up inside me as I snorted. “Yeah, I am really good at getting people killed or shot. Lieutenant Butter Bar, Shadow Step, Radio Wave... Wire-” I said, before she cut me off.

“Corporal, those were NOT your fault, and I don’t want to hear that kinda bullshit out of your mouth!” she snapped, glaring at me in the murk. “Corporal, this is a war. It isn’t some story! It isn’t some adventure! In war, people on the winning side still die! You gotta get one thing through your head! It is all just a game, like what you said. Blaze told me you said something about a game. This is all just one big game played for politics, and justice, and all sorts of things that don’t matter when you are in the mud and blood and guts. What you need to realize is that you and everyone you care about is already dead. You need to see that you are going to die, I am going to die, and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You are a sniper, and a damn fine one.”

I stared at her in the dark, her words stirring something in me. “Yeah, I'm a sniper. I got a question for you, Major... What the buck do I do when I get home?”

She giggled. “I never figured you for an optimist. What makes you think any of us are ever going home?” she said, pulling me to my feet, me earlier depression still there, but under check, replaced by a hollow sense of duty.

“All of us are just broken toys for a mad god. Lets get you back into the barracks” she said, clapping me on the back.

I guess that is true. All of us are pretty broken.

I bet my mom is so proud of me.

Chapter 10

D+93

“ah.... hah... Hah... HATCHOO!”

I rubbed my muzzle again, sniffling. The damn cold froze every breath I took, and no matter how tightly I wrapped my wings and jacket around myself, the cold decided to find every crack and crevice and squeeze in against my poor pelt. Like most of the company, exposure to so much stress had prevented us from growing our winter coats, and as a result, the winter gear we had been issued was not sufficient to stop three of us from freezing to death so far. The rest of us envied them. THEIR long march was over.

For the past week or so, we had been marching north from Saint Feathersburg, heading across the Reign river, and had entered Gryphany proper. The evergreen forests around here used to be hunting grounds, but the Gryphon army had scoured it clean ages ago, and now not a single mindless deer was to be seen. It was a actually rather peaceful out here, with the fresh snow making everything look clean and new, a fresh start that lifted my mood. I was aware that the rest of my platoon looked on me when I wasn’t looking at them, and that some of them whispered, but I was doing much better. Whiskey and Beer had done much to dull the pain I was feeling, and I smiled and joked more.

“Alright... Hey! We're digging in here!”

I looked around. Captain Rock Solid was nodding at me and Blaze. “Start digging foxholes here, forward scouts reported that they can see Talonskrach. We are about half a mile out, so this is where we hold the line” he said, before moving away. I looked across at Blaze and shrugged, pulling out my Entrenching Device, Mark Two, Non-Collapsable. It was a fancy way of saying shovel.

Propping my rifle up against a tree, I got to work scraping snow off of the ground with her and exposing the partially frozen ground underneath. Luckily, we were not far enough north that we would be hacking through a crust, but the top soil was still frozen from all of the plant material embedded in it. It was a few minutes before Blaze spoke.

“So... you hear that Chineigh is pushing hard on the other side of Gryphany? Cause I heard on the radio that Empress Ming Chow has her soldiers sweeping the land clear everywhere she goes.”

I nodded. It had been welcome news that she had succeeded in breaking the Gryphon advances on her side, and had successfully stalled the Neighponeese at the same time. Her casualties were horrendous, but her soldiers were just as fanatical as the Neighponeese, as well trained as the Gryphons, a bit worse equipped than us, and there sure were a lot of them. Personally, I thought the numbers she was throwing out, that she was fielding over seventy million soldiers, was a bit inflated, but even if she was fielding only a quarter of that it was more than the Gryphons could bring to bear, being fought on two fronts. Our navy had smashed the Neighponeese at the Battle of Coral Bay, and they were in full retreat from us.

“Yeah, that means if we can take Talonskrach, we will have made a breach in their defensive line. We take Skrach, and from there it is what... a seventy mile march to Birdlin? Two small towns and then their capitol?”

From behind me a voice said “That's right, Corporal. You two doing okay?”

I turned and nodded respectfully, refusing to salute the Major when we didn’t know if there were other snipers around. I smiled tightly, before asking “Do you need anything, Major?”

She shook her head. “Just making sure you are ready to go when we attack. Once we take this town, I am gonna put in to command to have us relieved. I've had just about enough of hurry up and wait, and with the fact that the war is gonna be over before Hearth's Warming Eve, I wanna spend it back in Equestria with my folks. What about you, wanna get back home too?”

I shook my head. “Naw, I've seen Equestria. Grew up there. That's why I came here, but I wish someone had told me there was a war going on.”

Blaze snorted. “Same here Ma'am. I just wanna do my job, kill some beaks, and get back in on piece.”

The major nodded, turning away. “Well, if you two need anything, let me know. Dig out another six inches in that foxhole, then tuck in for a bit. Mess Cook will be bringing food around at some point. We wont be attacking until tomorrow regardless.”

With that, she left and Blaze and I finished excavating the hole in the ground, wishing we could pop out in Chineigh on the other side, but instead settling for curling up at the bottom and huddling together under a blanket. Eventually, I drifted off to sleep, my head on her shoulder.

I awoke a few hours later to the smell of soup and the feeling of a warm metal cup being pushed into my hands. Blinking and yawning, I bit back a muffled curse at the cold. It was dark out now, and I found that Blaze had rigged the blanket over a frame on the top of our foxhole. We were a bit far out on the line, at the left edge, and by the looks of it we were mimiking the trap-door spider.

I smiled up at the cook, nodding and offering him a ciggarett in exchange for his services, which he gladly accepted.

When he left, I pulled the blanket frame back over us, and cozied up to Blaze in the bottom of the pit. There was a glow inside from a portable heater she had set up, and I looked at her. “So... what's the first thing you are gonna do when you get back?” I asked, taking a bite of my soup.

She shrugged, chewing through a half-cooked carrot as she thought. “Probably gonna see if I can get back into college. I hear the crown is gonna offer incentives to soldiers to go to college, and someday get a commission. But I really just wanna go back to working iron in a foundry. My daddy was a blacksmith, Furnace Blaze. He makes antique weapons, and his brother is the forgemaster for the Royal Guard weapons. He actually repaired Prince Shining Armors sword back when the prince was only a lieutenant in the guard.”

I looked up at her. “Nice... So why were you working in a foundry then?”

She grinned. “Same reason anyone works a crappy job. They need money, and the foundry needed warm bodies to stare at the machines all day. I managed a line of workers who would make sure the metal came out right, mostly it was sheets of metal to make things like roofing and tanks.”

I chuckled. “I guess we have something in common then... I worked a factory line too, in Cloudsdale. Line Manager, Factory Fifteen, Supervisor Grade Three Temporary Steel Wing. My boss was a friend ofo my dads and got me a job I technically wanst qualified for, even though I did it pretty well. He took care of me, but my job was to watch machiens and people and make sure they didn’t mess up!”

She laughed, before covering her mouth and snorting, trying to keep quiet. I found myself grinning, amused by the circumstances.

“What are the odds! Both of us from oppisite ends of Equestria, and both of us went from doing similar shitty jobs to doing EXACTLY THE SAME shitty job!” she said. I just smiled as I took another bite of my soup, and she opened her mouth to continue.

I never did find out what happened, as the roof caved in over us. The blanket and frame fell around us, and the heater went out as it was smothered, filling the hole in the ground with smoke. Some idiot must have stepped on our foxhole, and I swore loudly.

Blaze and I both pulled away at fabric, as I said “Dammit! Watch were you're going!”

That is when we pulled away the fabric, and I was face to face with a feathered head and a beak.

Time slowed to a crawl as the Gryphon squawked, and I shouted, my arms pinned by the fabric, Blaze still struggling between the gryphon and the blanket and frame, pinned to the side of the hole. I slammed my head forward, dazing the featherhead before thrashing, shouting “HELP! HE-AUGH!”

The gryphon cut my second call for assistance short by slashing across my face with his talons, ripping the right side open in a lance of absolute agony. A muffled shot rang out and Blaze screamed, cursing a blue streak as she finally said “Get your fucking gun! GET YOUR FUCKING GUN!”

Two arms wrapped around the gryphon from behind, and he screeched as he was pulled back into an embrace that many stallions would have longed for, but in this case involved enough pressure that I heard a nasty crack from his ribs. Fumbling, I grabbed my Colt Revolver, and lunged forward, tackling him out of Blaze's arms and pinning him to the side of the hole, the revolver against his head.

A moment later, a second shot rang out and my gun was smoking, having plastered his brains across the snow a few feet away, and I slumped over his body, panting. The My right eye was blinded by blood, and the cold air caused the fresh wounds to throb. The thing that grabbed my attention, however, was when I turned around to see Blaze grimacing, holding her left leg which was covered in blood.

I didn’t even get a chance to call for a medic before the world exploded around us, the wrath of the gods raining upon is in the form of a mortar that exploded a few feet away and turned my world dark.

I blinked awake slowly. There was a thundering sound all around, and a moment later the sounds of screaming and laughing. Looking around, I spotted Orange Blaze next to me, looking pale in the hole we were both in. There was a bright flash of light, and something hot streaked past my cheek, snapping me out of my daze. We were under fire!”

Blaze was still covered in blood, and I screamed “MEDIC! MEDIC!” at the top of my lungs as I cralwed over to her. She looked up at me, but here eyes seemed glazed in the dim light of the early morning, and the flashes of light did nothing to improve the outlook. I reached down to her leg, putting pressure on it like we had been taught, my mind unusually clear at the moment. For now, the only thing I could focus on was saving my best friend. She wimpered as I pressed both palms over it. “Shh, you're fine! Look at me!” I commanded, looking into her eyes.

She drew back her teeth, hissing. “Dammit dammit dammit Dammit DAMMIT! I cant see a damn thing!” she said, her eyes staring vacantly. “Where are you? Did we get buried?”

I snapped my fingers in front of her eyes. “Blaze! Look at me! Come on!” I said, the first tentrils of panic welling up inside of me. Her eyes remained fixed straight ahead, and a second later my heart nearly stopped as a figure slid into the hole next to us. It started when I saw that it was a medic, the red cross on his helmet signifying that he was the one I wanted. Without a word, he pulled me away from her leg, and cut off the fabric, sprinkling a clotting agent on it. I handed over the morphene from my aid kit, and he jammed the syrette into her good leg, putting the used dispensor into her collar for future reference, and I looked at him. “Is she gonna be okay doc?”

He looked at me. “Yeah! It didn’t hit the artery or she would already have bled out. She's in shock though!”

I shotued above the din of explosions, “She cant see! She cant see anything!”

He nodded. “I said she is in shock! That can happen! We're gonna get her to an aid station once this shit stops!” he hollered, checking her bandaging and then hopping out of the hole, running off towards another screaming voice. I pulled Blaze close and whispered “I'm gonna get you out of here! Blaze! I’m gonna make sure you get home! Just stay with me!”

I held her close as they shelled us for another twenty minutes. Dawn crept over the horizon as the last shell fell, and I still held Blaze until a wagon came by to pick her and some other wounded up.

I just stared as she was taken away, one more of my friends claimed by the war.

The night before the attack on Talonskrach was one of the worst nights that 17th platoon faced. Their company was fine, but the seventeenth themselves had the misfortune of digging their foxholes in the direct path of an area that was pre-sighted for 102mm Howitzers. The next day, however, proved to be both the turning point of the war, and the end of it. Folliwng the Battle of Talonskrach, the gryphons surrenderd, and the wortorn survivors were sent home, leaving the fresh troops to occupy the now subdued country.

Corporal Orange Blaze was discharged following her injury, and walked with a limp the rest of her life, but managed to return to a more or less normal semblence of life, still slightly haunted by the war. Major Maple Leaf suffered a single shrapnle wound, but was not required to get any serious medical aid. Corporal Steel Wing suffered a disfiguring scar, but refused to be removed from the line, insisting that he be allowed to take part in the most pivotal land battle in the war, and was granted the request, although that meant that shoddy first aid resulted in permanent scars on his face.

“It was, without a doubt, the last time we had to prove ourselves. But dammit, we did our jobs and we did them well. I just wish I could have seen Bristlebeaks face when he heard that he was gonna lose. Chineigh from one side, Neighpan abandoning him, and us on his door step... wish we had gotten to seize that city too. But not a mare or stallion walked off that battlefield unchanged.”

-Major Maple Leaf

Chapter 11

I crouched at the edge of the treeline, anxiously looking down across a hundred yards of field at the town of Talonskratch. This was the first time I would go into battle without Blaze, but Bubbles and Hoof crouched next to me. Next to us was the current Platoon Commanding Officer, Shimmer Shot. She looked very nervous, a recent addition to the now very under-strength platoon I found myself in. Still, Bubbles smoked away as Major Leaf talked to Colonel Forward March, occasionally pointing at the town. I sighed and sat back, feeling empty.

“Well, it don’t look so bad does it?” said Iron Hoof, clapping me on the shoulder. “Just a hunnerd yards, then we get to the fence, and other neat little bits of cover. Most of them are even big enough for me!”

I shrugged. “Maybe. But in case you didn’t notice, that town is called Talonskratch, and in that town are these things called Gryphons. And these gryphons, they got these nice little things called Tanks. And Howitzers, and rifles, and all sorts of other manner of death dealing devices. They've had about six weeks to set up, and even if they are a bit undermanned, they still got us two to one. How's that figure?”

He stared at me, and I glared right back. “Look, sorry about Blaze, but she was our friend too. At least she is gonna get back okay.”

I huffed. “Maybe. In case you didn’t know, these gryphons got a habit of shooting down planes and ships. Lucky if any of us get back.”

Sergeant Bubbles cuffed me across the back of the head, scowling. “Watch it, Corporal. We got a job to do, don’t be spewing that kinda talk around. Keep your eyes forward, and with any luck, Major Leaf will get us out of here after this trip. Nice face though. Why didn’t you take the truck back to the CP?”

I leaned back, taking a draft of water from my canteen. “I ain’t gonna get pulled off the line, not right now. I cant just leave in the middle of a battle, and that battle started last night when they got Hopper, Kick Starter, and Zig Zag in their foxhole eating food. It started when a featherhead popped down into our hole and shot Blaze.”

At that, a female voice said, calmly, “It STARTED when five thousand shock troopers decided to take a bite out of the Crystal Empire, Wing.”

I turned and nodded at Maple Leaf. She sighed and sat down next to us. “I'm probably more attached to Ninth squad than I should be, but us officers don’t make many friends. We sure as shooting are not supposed to, interferes with our judgment. Makes us make stupid calls to save a few at the cost of many. But I find that it is always rewarding to get to know the little guys. What happened to the private who pissed a twenty foot tall picture of Bristlebeak into the snow?”

We all stared at her, and a warm feeling welled up in me. I remembered that, getting up at zero two hundred with a bunch of fellow draftees, all of us sneaking out, promising whatever we had to to the gate guards to let us out into the snow, and then all of us, MOSTLY stallions, deciding to piss our names into the snow. Then we got the idea to piss Bristlebeaks face into it... A warm chuckle escaped me. “Yeah, and we got into ALOT of trouble for it. Even if you officers and drill sergeants never found out who was involved, we all still did a lot of pushups.”

Iron Hoof guffawed, a deep resonant sound as he looked at Bubbles. “You really should have been there... Us recruits, we all-” he started, before Colonel Forward March grabbed Leaf. “Major, it's time. Get them ready to go. And you are NOT going out there. Lieutenant Shimmer Shot, are you ready?”

She nodded, looking down. “Ready as we will get, Colonel. Give the word, and we're heading out.”

He nodded back, and turned around. “Alright, listen up!  Second Company will be leading the attack! Platoon leaders, get to your stations. First company, you will shore up the right flank. Third, you go down the left. Captain Winter Solitude, make SURE you take out those howitzers! If I see so much as a single shell, so help me I will string you up! Head out and give em hell! We breack through here, we win this war!”

Like everyone else, I lifted my rifle with a “HOO-YAH!” and made ready to sprint, wings folded back to provide optimal air flow. All around us, others gathered, right at the edge of the treeline. Then the order was given, and we sprinted.

Ahead of me were two other soldiers, a mare and a stallion that was not much more than a colt, both of them privates that I didn’t know. The mare, a unicorn, leaned ahead as she charged, a grease gun tucked under an elbow as we ran. Things seemed to go in slightly slow motion, and I felt like I was in the middle of a bad dream, or maybe molasses. Time stretched.

Then there was a screech, and a bullet whizzed past me. They opened fire, MG38s and MG40s mixed with a few other models spewing a deadly storm at the advancing equestrian soldiers. I felt a punch in my thigh and fell down, grabbing it, my heart stoping as I felt liquid spilling out. Looking down, I saw water flowing out of my canteen and into the white snow.

I stared at it with detachment before looking around. Shimmer Shot shouted at me on the way by, but I couldn’t make out what she said through the glass that seemed to be between us. Feeling tired, I pulled myself up to my feet, and staggered towards the battle that raged ahead. Behind a short fence and several wells and other structures, ponies took shelter. I slid in next to Shimmer Shot and a Radio Telephone Operator, shaking my head to clear the cotton out of it. I felt a bit tired, and shook my head again.

“Get on the radio! Tell Major Leaf that we are facing a HELL of a lot more machine gun fire than we were told about! We can't charge through this!” Shimmer Shot screamed at the RTO. He nodded, and began talking into the receiver, as I stood up and stared at her. “What the HELL do you think you are doing? Corporal.. CORPORAL! Get back here!” she screamed before a bullet pinged off of her helmet.

I was standing up, and I simply walked around the corner, faced the door to the little shack we were behind, and pushed the door open. Inside, my detached mind noted, were five gryphon soldiers all staring away from me, except for one young soldier who was just finishing reloading his rifle. All of them kept at what they were doing, until the one facing me with his unloaded rifle screamed. “ATCHUNG! SOLDAT!” as he lifted it. His gun clicked, and I looked down at it, before raising my colt revolver and firing at him, shooting him twice in the chest. The others turned around, all of them catching their rifles on each other and the wall as they squawked. Amusement gripped me at the comedic act, and I giggled. “Hey there!” I said, smiling, as I fired from left to right, getting two in the second to last soldier before the hammer clicked back on the final shot, signifying the six shooter was empty.

He and I both stared at each other, and with something akin to a zooming sound, my vision resumed normal functions, the world ceased to be made of cold syrup, and I realized that he had a rifle aimed square at my chest.

“Oh SHIT!” I screamed, jumping forward just as he fired, feeling one shot scrape my ribs, and tackled him to the ground, dropping my rifle.

He cursed in his own language, and we grappled on the ground. I brought my knee up hard between his legs and he groaned, headbutting me. We rolled over and over on the ground, and he pulled out a combat knife, driving it up at my throat. I grimaced, and put both hands on his, trying to turn the knife around.

He squawked again, and his rage turned to fear as I slowly turned the knife around and began to lower my weight on it, pushing it down, down, down towards his heart. The tip slowly penetrated his jacket, and he began to smash his fist against my side. “No! Stahp! Stahp! Nein! Nein! Nein!” he cried, eyes wide.

I kept pushing, before with a burst of strength he pulled up both legs and kicked hard against my chest, sending me flying backwards to hit the wall. I cursed, struggling against my pack, and jumped to my feet. He pulled himself up, and went for his Luger. With a quick jump, I closed the distance to him and we went over onto the ground again.

“Just... fucking... DIE!” I screamed, wrapping both hands around his throat, squeezing until my fingers cramped. Gurgling and writhing, he tried to bring the pistol to bear on me before I slammed his head down on the iron helmet of one of his comrades. Stunned, his hand went limp, and I leaned in close, a manic desire in my mind.

“Shhh... shush.... quiet...” I murmured, staring at him. He blinked up at me, beak opened, a pitiful peeping sound coming out, before finally it opened wide enough for me to see the back of his mouth, and he went still, the eyes no longer blinking.

I lay on top of him for a while, breathing hard, before I looked up. A single soldier sat on the ground, quivering, a single shot through his left shoulder. Standing up, I walked out the door, grabbing my rifle. I never gave him a second though as I walked out.

In all of this, only a minute or two had gone by, but the battlefield looked much the same. We all were taking cover, and I squatted next to Shimmer Shot. “Ma'am! I got a sniper rifle!” I said, my voice sounding unusually loud in my ears. “Got any prime targets?”

She nodded. “Sniper, second story of that bombed out building, under the collapsed section of the roof. Morter teams cant seem to hit it, can you give it a try?”

I nodded, before jumping and flapping to get on the roof of the shack, on the side angled away from the sniper. Setting up, I dialed in the scope to the estimated fifty five yards, looking through it. Sure enough, there was the barrel of a sniper rifle poking through the rubble. There was a flash as he fired, and I saw the glint of his scope. Chambering a bullet, I cycled the bolt and aimed, squeezing my off eye shut to focus. Taking a deep breath, I counted to three, released, took another, held it, and slowly squeezed the trigger. My rifle barked, and a moment later a gryphon fell lifeless from the building, impacting the ground headfirst.

“Got him! Ma'am, you got a clean path up past this shack!”

“Sure thing!” she shouted back. “Mind if-” she satarted, before there was a shot, and she went quiet. There was a shout, another shot, and then more quiet. I looked over the edge. “Ma'am?” I asked, looking down.

What happened next, I was not quite sure. One minute I was on the roof, the next, the structure under me stopped existing, and I found myself flying through the air, not under my own power. The ground gave me a friendly greeting, and I lay on my back, stunned, and trying to remember how to breathe.

Finally pulling my head up, I saw a gryphon, feathers dyed black, in a black uniform that stood out in stark contrast to the snow. It was clearly a she, and the Luger in one of her claws barked twice. Shaking my head, I looked over to see Bubbles fall back, face blank. Then she turned to me, eyes cold. The “Sekret Sekuridat” on her uniform marked her as a commando, and the hatred in her eyes held nothing for me but the promise of death.

For a moment, I simply stared, looking up at her as she looked down at me, then the corners of her beak turned up and her finger started to tighten.

At that moment, out of nowhere, there was a deep bellow like a minotaur, and Iron Hoof came charging, no rifle, bare handed at her. Stumbling back, she backed up, firing over and over at him. Each time, he jerked back while I sucked air, trying to scream. I couldn’t believe it... I was about to see another one of my friends die. Blood flew through the air out of his back, yet on he came, and with a yell that would curdle demon blood. Her pistol clicked empty as he grabbed her around the neck and lifted her high.... before slamming her down onto the ground, creating a sickening snap as something broke inside her. All around us lay the dead and dying, gryphons and ponies alike, with Shimmer Silk in the dirt a few yards away. I crawled over towards Iron Hoof as he lay in the dirt on his back, staring at the sky. My throat closed up as I approached him.

“Hoof! Dammit!” I said, sitting up over him. He looked up, blood in the corners of his mouth. “Hoof! MEDIC! MEDIC!” I screamed, lifting his head.

“Dammit...” he muttered. “Still... beats... being the one to watch... someone else die... hug your mom when you get back...” he slurrred out as his head drooped. A moment later, his breathing stopped. He was gone. Everyone was gone. I turned around, reaching for my rifle, a cold despair over my heart before there was two quick shots and I pitched forward into the snow, agony erupting from my back and lower abdomen as blood spattered the snow in front of me.

I slowly lifted my head to see the SS trooper look at me and collapse, breathing hard, while my vision faded. I guess it was my turn as well.

My last thought as a medic ran at me was that I really missed my mother, but that I was glad she didn’t have to see me like this. Maybe it was better this way.

The attack on Talonskratch proved to be the turning point in the land war. Although it resulted in the annihilation of Second and First company, the seizure of this vital town allowed troops to pour in across the reigh river and into the heart of Gryphany. A mere two weeks later, by popular demand, Bristlebeak was assassninated by his nephew, who then sued for peace. A disarmed and bitter gryphon army returned home, removing themselves from their holdings and going back to their families. The oldier soldiers were happy to leave, while the younger once wished for more glory. Outfighting lasted for years, with smaller clans refusing to bow.

Corporal Steel Wing survived the battle, along with Major Maple Leaf, although he and Sergeant Bubbles were the only ones to make it out amongst the ninth squad. For his actions, Steel Wing was awarded both the Celestial Unit Citation for his company, and the Medal of Honor for his courage. He was not the only one, as seven of the fifteen survivors of the Seventeenth Platoon got the same award. Major Maple Leaf was awarded the Silver Star for her command efforts and overseeing the final stage of the battle despite the Colonels protests.

All of the citations and awards in the world could not make up for what the mares and stallions of Second Company faced. Many of them retrned home physically fine. Most of them never really re-adjusted to normal life, however, and Princess Luna remained troubled by the dreams she monitered of her poor soldiers.

“We did our jobs. If you remember anything about us, remember that.”

-Sergeant Bubbles

“What was it? I don’t know. It was just a town, I guess. But for most of us, it was our recurring nightmare. I go there every night, and every night, I don’t make it out .”

-Major Maple Leaf.

“I wish I was there... I SHOULD have been there. Damnit, that was my job! They did it, and I wish I was. Still... the look on Wing's face... that is Corporal Steel Wing... how they all looked on the news. I cant believe it was that bad...”

-A recovering Corporal Orange Blaze.

Epilogue

Dear Mom,

I know you wont want to hear this, but I wont be coming home. I really wish I could, but I need to have some time to sort things out. I hear you and Azure Skies have hit it off pretty well, and I am happy for you. When I can, I will visit, but for now, I just need to settle down somewhere new. I think I am going to maybe go to Manehatten, or Los Pegasus. Maybe Ponyville. There are jobs out there, and I just want something that will keep me from thinking about... the war. I am fine, really.

The doctors say that I probably wont fly anymore, I got injured pretty bad in the last battle. I have trouble breathing, but they say that will go away in time. For now, I will keep in touch with mail, and I will send you more money if I need it. The army will keep me afloat on half-pay for a while until it can be sorted out, so don’t worry about me at all.

Love, Steel Wing.

I sat back in the sickbay of the ship that was taking us back home. I still hurt, badly, but I had refused all offers of morphine, telling the doctors to give it to someone who needed it, like the mare who had lost both of her legs to a landmine. I didn’t now what to do, really, and I had hardly spoken to anyone since I woke up two days ago. From what I had heard, the war eneded last week, when Bristlebeak was assassinated, and his replacement begged Celestia to accept a surrender. With Chineigh rolling in on once side and the threat of celestias new weapon being deployed, he really didn’t have a choice. Proud warriors they may be, but in the face of utter destruction, they fell.

Bubbles was in the bed next to mine, but they still had a breathing tube in him. He had looked bad on the battlefield, but he had survived two shots to the chest. Iron Hoof on the other hand... he lay under a shroud down below. He had taken over twelve shots to the chest, all of them very small calibur but still... it hadn’t been a Luger, but some variation of .22 that carried a twenty four round box. And he still managed to best a highly trained operative.

I shook my head. It was all just a game. We were all already dead, we just had to wait for our card to show up. Reaching down, I undid the lid on my hip flask. Taking a long draft of whiskey, I winced at the burn, but enjoyed its mind-numbing effects. I was going to enjoy it a lot more when I got back home.

Home... what was that now? For the past most of a year, home had been the army. They trained us all up for a war that lasted only five months, five months that killed over three million people on our side alone. Saddle Arabia, Prance, Austnaeighia, Afneighistan, Ireign... all of those small places with even more fighting. Places there was STILL fighting at. What now? Where did I go from there? I couldn’t go back home, not like this.

I reached up, running my fingers along the scars on my face. They were still red and puckered, oozing sometimes when my face stretched. A few swigs of whiskey later, and I settled back in.

I really missed Blaze.

“Breaking news! Usurper Bristlebeak, who claimed the throne to Gryphany five years ago, was assassinated early this week by his nephew, who immediately sued for peace with Princess Celestia! Although it has yet to be formalized, we are, as of now, no longer at war with gryphany. Neighpan still continues its fight, but against both Chineigh and the Crystal Marine Corps, they are losing ground slowly but surely. Forces of the First Infantry broke the line at the Reighn, and at the threat of full invasion and the sacking of their lands, the Gryphons surrendered! The ship with the soldiers arriving home will be here soon!

It remains to be seen however, if the soldiers so well suited to war are welcomed back into an environment that is not in keeping with wartime conditions. Unrest and a demand to lower taxes has created a slightly tense air back in Equestria. Still, these are homecoming heroes! Welcome to the Defenders of Equestria!

This is Worldly News, bringing you News from Around the World, signing off.”